Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano has defended the club’s La Masia academy after they failed in their appeal against a transfer embargo.
The initial sanction was handed down by FIFA after the Blaugrana were found to have signed underage players for their youth ranks.
The repercussions are that the Camp Nou side will not be able to sign players for the duration of 2015, but Mascherano has defended the actions of the Catalan giants.
“From what I have seen over these four years, the club has looked after the boys at La Masia very well,” he is quoted as saying by Marca.
“That’s what I saw and that’s what I know. You can see that they have given them the best quality of life that you can have here.
“It’s a sensitive question and people are giving opinions about it.”
Masherano also expressed his belief that the senior team are in good shape for the start of the season this weekend.
“Those of us who have joined up later have seen that the team has trained very well in pre-season.”
