The Youth Thread | Even our kids win trebles | Barça B in La Segunda & other Blaugrana Kids

Wenger scouted him first but le prof. decided against signing him because he was "too old" .

 

Defelou ( spelling ) looked good again last night for Everton . He was very effective on the right side of attack , going past defenders at ease . Next season Neymar / Messi / Defeleou

 

Grimaldo inked an extension and should be on the pitch again soon. Great LB now 18 who suffered a torn ACL 10 months ago.

Adria, the 16 y.o. son of Tito, scored today and dedicated the goal to his dad who was watching in the stands. http://instagram.com/p/jFVBOYJsRw/

Best 50 best goals of the season so far for La Masia players:

 

Sanabria transfer is apparently worked out, never thought he'd rejoin, but there was a big difference on whether his buyout was 3 or 12 (the latter since he'd been promoted to B squad). So it was settled at 4.5. He seems talented and had potential to be a homegrown true CF/target guy but did not want to wait for that at Barca. Good luck to him but not too much luck. 4.5 is a nice payout for a youngster..http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/news/sanabria-to-roma-for-4-5-million/#more-150916

Meanwhile in the good column, Munir al Haddadi who was also being pursued, has decided to stay at Barca, will join Barca B at year end (and his buyout will increase at that point). He is also a forward with lots of talent, and we only want La Masia talent that want to be here and are willing to be somewhat patient given the teams above them (Barca, and Barca B). Good luck to Munir!
http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/news/munir-el-haddadi-agrees-contract-extension/

 

More good news to wake up this sleepy Youth Thread on our forum, both Bagnack and Dongou renew till 2017 and buy out clauses increase to 12M. Hopefully we will have to increase those buyouts before 2017, or better yet they automatically increase upon any further promotion to the first team.

Two of Barcelona B’s biggest talents, Cameroonians Macky Frank Bagnack and Jean Marie Dongou, renewed their contracts until 2017 today, with buyout clauses of €12 million each. Despite plying their trade at opposite ends of the pitch, Bagnack and Dongou have a lot in common: both came to Barcelona through the Samuel Eto’o Private Foundation, both debuted for Barcelona B at a shockingly young age in 2012, and both were hand-picked by Gerardo Martino as two of the brightest youth prospects available.

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/news/dongou-and-bagnack-renew-until-2017/#ixzz2rjG0sNeE

 

Good summary of what I posted immediately above: For Barcelona’s part, they stuck to their guns, both in negotiating the transfer fee and in not caving to the demands of a youth-team product who refused to earn his place. Although Sanabria is certainly talented, Barcelona have negotiated a very good price for him, and there are three other very talented strikers his age (Jean-Marie Dongou, Sandro Ramirez, and Munir El Haddadi) ready and waiting to take his place in the Masia production line.

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/news...ched-on-sale-of-tonny-sanabria/#ixzz2sVvya6IX

 

June 2015 apparently: http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/adama-traore/profil/spieler_204103.html

Nice write up here on this weekend's dominant win, Adama causing much of the damage and Grimaldo making a return to the pitch as a late sub (first time on since last year's ACL tear): http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/yout...2-fc-barcelona-b-needs-publisher/#more-151573

 

Cool infographic though I notice that the 1.91 guy looks about half again bigger than Bagnack who is really, at 1.82, less than 4 inches shorter or 5% shorter.

PS I think this may mean Planas doesn't make the leap vs. similarly situated Sergi Gomez (and who doesn't want to see a future first team squad with 3 La Masia raised Sergis in it).

 

Big win for Juvenil A into the european quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over Copenhagen. The last goal is a stunner and both Munir goals are worth watching (there are 2 video links, first one shows just the Munir goals, 2nd one shows highlights of the match). Next up Arsenal or Shaktar. Barcelona kicked off the match with a starting eleven of: Ondoa, Godswill, Riera, Quintillà, Ortega, Ebwelle (Moha, min 80), Enguene (Ros, min 88), Munir, Huertas (Kaptoum, min 69), Maxi Rolón and Tarín.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/b...golazos-in-uefa-youth-league-v-fc-copenhagen/

 

This CB was not on my limited La Masia radar and this piece is short on specifics despite several paragraphs but he is likened to Puyol (and his hero is Luiz), 15 year old, Marc Cucurella, did not even make the height chart I posted above (though some Cadete A team mates, and even Cadete B players did make it). Transfermarkt calls him a left back so he'd have to get past Grimaldo. http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/youth/marc-cucurella-a-puyol-in-the-making/#more-153038 He is another "gem" we quarried from city rivals Espanyol, a yearly undertaking by Barca which makes them hate us even more.

Looking more closely it looks like the article is just a translation of a piece Mundo Deportivo did in December http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20131...rella-el-puyol-de-la-cantera_54393907174.html

 

Here's another TotalBarca piece about a La Masia talent, taken from Espanyol in 2012 just the Cucu above, Carles Perez a winger with a lethal left foot. "La Masia hosts a huge number of talents. In this pool of talent, some bright stars are still able to shine. If La Masia had a Ballon D’Or equivalent for its players, this boy would be at the podium, to say the least. He is a 16-year-old who admires Neymar (who was a nightmare for Barça before signing for the club) and is a regular fixture for Spain’s U-16 team. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Carles Pérez."

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2014/news/carles-perez-la-masias-finest/#ixzz2vIfjM5Yv

Meanwhile Rafinha was La Liga player of the MONTH! Way to get after it Rafinha we'll be adding him back to our mix next season undoubtedly.

 

More good news from La Masia (also I read that Bartra is finally set to actually sign the contract he agreed to back on his Birthday, no word yet on Montoya renewal):

18-year-old Juvenil A striker Munir El Haddadi has been called up by Eusebio Sacristán for Barcelona B’s match against Mallorca on Saturday, his first ever summons to the B team. Equally adept as a winger and a striker, Munir is widely regarded as one of the best attackers in La Masia, and he is a regular feature on Barcelona’s weekly top five goal videos from the youth teams. In addition to his extraordinary left-footed shot, the youngster has a seemingly endless reserve of creativity and dribbling skills, drawing comparisons to a Barcelona legend, Rivaldo. This excellent news comes just a few days after Munir received his first call-up to the Spain U-19 team for a friendly against Holland, along with fellow Barcelona youngsters Adama Traoré, Alex Grimaldo, and Sandro Ramirez. A great week for Munir El Haddadi, and a great sign for Barcelona’s future. (from TotalBarca)

 

Another big win for the mostly Juvenil A squad which includes some of the younger Barca B players as Barcelona's U19 "Champions League" entry. They beat Arsenal 4-2 to advance to play Schalke in the semis, winner gets Real Madrid or Benfica. Goals by Munir, Traore x2, and Kaptoum. Both squads missed PKs. Arsenal played with 10 men for the last half hour but were already behind 2-1 when the card occurred (though they rallied to tie before losing w/ Barca goals at 88 and 90 minute marks. Former Barca Toral and Bellerin both started for Arsenal's U19 squad, Bellerin recently recalled from Watford by Arsenal.

Ondoa
Iekpolo (who missed the PK) - Rodrigo - Garcia - Quintilla
Huertas (Kaptoum at 46) - Sandgrouse - Enguene
Adama (Ebwelle at 90+1) - Rolon (El Oariachi at 74) - Munir

 

Another good tidbit I read today about the U19 "CL" formerly known as the NextGen series, now just called UEFA Youth League:

"Adama Traore & Munir El Haddadi have been recalled from Barca B for the UEFA Youth League game v Arsenal tomorrow.

FCB B players Samper, Grimaldo, Dongou, Sandro, Bagnack are all eligible for UEFA Youth League but club decided not to use 'em." from Barcaforum

Speculation is (1) we simply don't need them, (2) don't want to much of a mixed squad who are not (/no longer) used to playing together, (3) the eligible players are focused on making the leap to the senior squad and, in the meantime, keeping Barca B solidly in Segunda, not picking up trophies for a youth team. Munir and Adama were not immediately promoted to Barca B (they started this season in J-A) so they are more familiar with this team. Along with Kaptoum, who did not start, they seem to have great futures. I suspect we still don't bring all eligible players against Schalke but if we're in a final against Real it will be very tempting.

 

About my 7th post in a row, hopefully someone is reading & enjoying these, here are highlights from yesterday's UEFA Youth League game (class of 1995 / u19) vs. Arsenal as discussed in prior 2 posts:

 

I think Ronaldo is jealous

 

Godswill Ekpolo skied the early PK in the win over Arsenal but the Right Back has been super prolific in that u19 competition. He was also beaten on one of Arsenal's goals, however, at times he looked much like a young Abidal, a fast and tall Barca fullback albeit one who likes to score more than Abidal. http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140126/Introducing_Barcas_Godswill_Ekpolo

He could also make Ronaldo jealous, take from last year when U18 squad was eliminated by Chelsea:

 

Barca 2-0 Benfica in the UEFA youth CL 30th minute

Adama Traore with a nice run for the second goal