Anger as La Masia player could have ‘saved Barcelona €40m’ but nobody realised

In recent years there’s been a growing annoyance around Barcelona about the club not bringing through enough products from La Masia.

Several players have been signed as temporary answers, even on loan, and it’s thought they’ve been taking chances which would have otherwise been open to youngsters from the club’s youth system.

There was such pride not so long ago when a big part of the Barca team was made up of players from their own quarry and, now, looking towards the future, those players are slipping away and being replaced by others from outside.

Perhaps it was always going to be this way, yet that doesn’t stop the anger.

Catalan newspaper Sport pick out the example of Dani Olmo. He left for Dinamo Zagreb in 2014, with the then 16 year old not convinced he’d get opportunities down the line.

Sport say Olmo went ‘because he did not see clearly his progression and his future in the club and sensed that they were going to give him less chances than others’.

The youngster was given confidence and prominence in Croatia, and it’s been known for a while how good his potential is.

Sport therefore ask why Barcelona didn’t look to get him back last summer, before his price went through the roof following an excellent tournament with Spain’s U21 side.

Instead of signing Malcom for around €41m, they could have instead brought a La Masia boy back for much less, or better still noticed how good he was the first time.

This leads Sport to say the player ‘could have saved Barcelona €40m’, but nobody took the time to realise.