FCBARCELONA.CAT

27.05.2009 10:20

Home talent makes the difference

Jordi Clos

Barça’s homebred players are stunning Europe. We saw that against Chelsea, where seven players that came up through the ranks were involved, and all of these may well start the game in Rome.

La Masia will be well represented at the Olympic Stadium in Rome in the form of Valdés, Piqué, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. Any of those could play, and Bojan y Pedro are two of Pep Guardiola’s best alternative attacking options. Other local players are Jorquera and Víctor Sánchez, but both are injured against Manchester United.

Captains from home

One example of this is the way all four captains are products of La Masia: Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Valdés. All of them are convinced that much of Barça’s success has been the use of home-grown players. “We can be proud that so many of our own players are getting time on the pitch, it shows things are going well”, says Puyol. Xavi adds that “whenever the club has been successful, it has had a lot to do with local players.”

Manchester United 99

Van Gaal’s Ajax side of the early 90s typified what can be done. And then the last team to conquer Europe with mainly homebred talent was Manchester United in 1999, who won the title at the Camp Nou thanks to the likes of Giggs, Neville, Scholes and Beckham. The former three, all aged 34 or more now, are still with Sir Alex Ferguson, with other new players coming through to replace them.

New horizons

But the transition at United has not been smooth. The players that have come out of the famous United Academy are only playing supporting roles, such as Brown, O'Shea and Fletcher. It being difficult to scout local talent due to English restrictions on the circulation of young players, the Manchester club has changed its strategy, and is now looking abroad for potential. Defender Rafael and striker Macheda are two examples of this system.