Barcelona“There are very few who reach the first team, much less those who consolidate there.” It’s one of the first things they say to young footballers who come into the Barça squad. La Masia’s training school has more than a hundred players, but it is clear that not all of them fit into the elite. Most are packing as the pyramid tightens, until the group of chosen ones who can be professionals arrives. Here comes the second choice, those that serve the first team and those that do not.
Historically, Barça have given a letter of freedom to discarded players. It is still a common practice today, but for some seasons the club has been trying to get an economic return from these players. “That they don’t serve for the first team does not mean that they cannot be professionals. There is life beyond Barça”, they often remind Sant Joan Despí. Sandro Rosell, with the sale of Thiago to Bayern Munich for 25 million in 2013, opened the ban. And Josep Maria Bartomeu followed the same path – obviously, not all operations could be as juicy as those of the Brazilian midfielder.
A change in policy promoted by Rosell and Bartomeu
Rosell and Bartomeu were heavily criticized in their day for these operations. They were accused of blocking the passage to the first team of the youngsters trained at home to prioritize signings of other teams. In fact, only Sergi Roberto was consolidated during his term. Joan Laporta, now president, has always defended a football model in which La Masia is the straw man. For this reason he shields young talents such as Ansu, Pedri, Nico, Ansu and Gavi. However, there is still a surplus of players. And between that and the economic reality, the subsidiary is also, for the board, a possible source of income. The sale of Ferran Jutglà is the latest example.
Jutglà is not a player trained at La Masia, properly, but he is a member of the branch, where he arrived free in 2021. He made his debut with Xavi and has been vindicated at Barça B. But he does not have a place in the first team. In addition, according to regulations, Jutglà could not be a footballer lift – by age, either he only played in the branch or, if he went up to the first team, he already had to stay there. One option was to give it away, but it was eventually decided to sell. The destination will be Bruges, he said Relief, which will pay between 6 and 7 million. The operation is not yet official, although Jutglà has already said goodbye to Barça with a letter posted on social media in which he thanks the club for agreeing to sell him and leaves open the possibility of returning in the future.
Of the players in the squad, Jutglà will not be the only player for the summer. Àlex Collado, Óscar Mingueza and Riqui Puig are also ruled out and will leave – although, in some cases, on loan. In the case of sale, all the money that is entered is considered a net profit for the club, because since they are from the house they have arrived, accounting, at zero cost. A doubly important fact in a summer in which, again, there are problems with the salary cap of the League.
Every year Barça gets the performance of the players trained in the youth team
In the middle of markets conditioned by the coronavirus, last year it was only possible to cash in on Carles Aleñá, who went to Getafe for 5 million. But two years ago, Carles Pérez (13 million), Marc Cucurella (11.8) and Rafinha (1.5) left 26.3 million in the treasury. And in the summer of 2020, 17.4 million were raised by Denis Suárez (12.9), Marc Cardona (2.5) and Sergi Palencia (2).
Gerard Deulofeu (13) and Munir el Haddadi (1) were the outstanding sales of the summer of 2019; a year earlier he had cashed in with Cristian Tello (4), and had previously been Bartra (8). The best summer was 2016, with revenue for Pedro (27) and Deulofeu (6). Denis was also sold to Villarreal that year, but it was a conditional transaction because, afterwards, Barça bought him for the same amount, 4 million. La Masia is a training school, but also a good way to earn income.
