BarcelonaDespite being only halfway through the season, injuries, coronavirus and changes to the bench have meant that more than 30 different footballers have worn the Barça shirt this season. This has opened the door for several players from the branch, especially the attackers and, since the arrival of Xavi Hernández on the bench, in particular. The Egarenc surprised with his debut against Espanyol giving the chance to Ilias Akhomach, who made his debut at the Camp Nou on November 20 and became the first player to make the debut of the new Barça coach. . From Ciutat Esportiva it is admitted that the position of the 17-year-old winger is still the one to continue training in the branch, but the losses and the non-negotiable idea of Xavi to play with extremes have reopened the doors of the first team in recent games.
More mature players such as Abde (20 years old) and Jutglà (22) are having a bigger presence under Xavi’s orders, but Ilias’ progression is being followed with special attention to the club. She is one of those promising youngsters with a differential talent that places her as one of the best to reach the first team. In fact, Patrick Kluivert, when he was the director of Barça’s training football team, defined him in 2019 as the new Leo Messi. A similarity that did not make much fun of the footballer’s representative, the Argentine Horacio Gaggioli. In any case, the winger born in the Hostalets de Pierola on April 16, 2004 has already started to get his head around the first team. It is also true that, although the Ciutat Esportiva assumed that one day he would be able to step on the Camp Nou pitch with the Barça shirt on, the circumstances that are being experienced this season at Barça have accelerated his debut.
A year away from Barça
Although it has long been detected as one of the pearls of La Masia, the story of Ilias is that of a footballer who, after completing the training phase of 7-a-side football, this means the categories of pre-beginner, youngest child and youngster. At the Barça youth club, it was then determined by the club that he did not have enough level to continue dressing as a Barça player. Ilias saw how the jump to the children’s category should be made at Gimnàstic de Manresa and not in Barcelona. A change, however, that would only last a single season, because the winger made “a spectacular evolution” in the whole of Bages, as Jordi Roura tells ARA, who until last summer had been in charge of training football Barça for the last seven years. “I don’t know how to explain it, but in just one season it improved a lot: in the physical, mental, game, confidence … We had to move very quickly to get it back,” explains Roura. Both he and Aureli Altimira were quick to get Ilias back because clubs such as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, as well as top-level English football teams, became interested in the young footballer of Maghreb origin.
At that moment, to recover it, the touch that Roura had had was decisive when, only a season before, it had been communicated to Ilias that he would not continue in the establishment of the Barça. “When you have to move a dwarf and his family who will not be in the club, you have to face them and you have to communicate and explain them well. When we drop a dwarf from the nursery, we have always tried to help. “Looking for a new team at the same time and showing him that the world doesn’t end at Barça. We must try to make the start well explained and argued. We also need to keep track of the player.” , details Roura. A way of proceeding that was crucial for Ilias to return to Barça when he was just beginning to emerge and began to win several level contenders.
“His wish was and is to play for Barça”
“He prefers to return and reject other big clubs. He talks about his desire to play for Barça. In addition, when he was 16, English clubs knocked on the door again, but he was clear that he wanted to stay here. an economic effort, but one that was not comparable to the amounts that other clubs could offer him. “It is true that the current circumstances have accelerated his debut: we must not forget that he is only 17 years old, but he is a footballer who fits Barça. He is a skilled winger who can play on both sides. , who has a one-on-one and a great ability to associate. In fact, in lower categories he has even played inside “, concludes Roura. The former La Masia manager does not hide his satisfaction at seeing players from the youth team reach the first team: “It gives meaning to the work we have done all these years”.
