Still deep in an economic crisis that's relegated Barcelona from soccer's aristocracy for the better part of a decade, turning one of the sport's Goliath's into a European laughing stock, Hansi Flick's arrival has yielded immediate success due in large part to his heavy reliance on the club's strongest pillar: La Masia.
Barcelona's academy has long been regarded as one of if not the greatest talent factory in the sport. It's been a decade and a half since Pep Guardiola—a La Masia product himself—led a Barcelona team that dominated Europe with the majority of its players being homegrown. Its impact on the sport was so strong that La Masia was also the foundation of a Spanish nationalteam that won two European Cups and a FIFA World Cup between 2008–2012.
After a prolonged stretch of domestic and European success, somewhere along the road in the mid 2010s, Barcelona lost its way. La Masia stopped being the club's main source of first team players and there was a shift to a more Real Madrid like approach, spending gigantic amounts of money in transfers and wages. The plan ultimately failed and slowly the team sank into the cusp of bankruptcy, losing its greatest ever player, Lionel Messi, as a consequence.
Flick arrived after Barcelona's second trophy-less season of the decade cost club legend, Xavi Hernández, his job. During the summer, the club's only significant signing was midfielder Dani Olmo, a former La Masia talent. Other than him, Flick is working with essentially the same group of players that finished 10 points back of Real Madrid in La Liga last season.
Flick looked inward to the club's academy to build out his squad. The turnaround was immediate. Barcelona won its first seven games in La Liga. The team currently sits nine points clear of Real Madrid in the league and is in the automatic qualification spots to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. Flick's men are playing some of the best soccer of any club in Europe currently, having won 14 out of 16 games this season.
Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí are two 17-year-olds who were given a shot by Xavi to break out into the first team. Yamal is already one of the greatest talents in the sport and Cubarsí is blossoming into one of the game's elite defenders. If Xavi lit the match to start the fire of La Masia's resurrection, then Flick arrived pouring a gallon of kerosene on top of it.
“I don’t think Hansi Flick started a new era…Xavi did.”
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) November 6, 2024
Thierry Henry discuss the impact Xavi has had on Barcelona's current young squad 👏 pic.twitter.com/tXZ5FcQEnU
Iñaki Peña, Cubarsí, Alejandro Baldé, Marc Casadó, Yamal, Fermín López and Dani Olmo are all academy talents that play significant roles in Flick's side. Ansu Fati, Héctor Fort, Pau Vcitor and Sergi Domínguez are others that usually come off the bench to finish off games. Gavi is slowly gaining more fitness following a year on the sidelines.
Casadó is undoubtedly the most significant finding of the Flick era so far. Xavi gave him his debut last season but played only 35 minutes across four games. Andreas Chrsitensen was often used on the base of Xavi's midfield. Flick immediately relied on the 21-year-old La Masia talent as his midfield anchor and his faith has been rewarded.
Casadó has emerged as one of the best midfielders in Europe this season. Playing a position so attached to Barça's history, it's difficult for fans not to be reminded of another La Masia central midfielder that dominated the world's midfield for a decade and a half before moving to Miami to join Messi.
Recently, Barcelona demolished Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in El Clásico with an 8-1 aggregate score in consecutive games. Six La Masia products started both games and four others made cameos off the bench.
It's remains to be seen if the Flick's early success will end up translating to trophies at the end of the season; however, the German manager has instantly changed the reality of Barcelona. Banking on a foundation of academy talent, Los Blaugranas are back to playing like one of the best teams in the world.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Meet the Latest La Masia Talents Fueling Barcelona's Resurgence.
