Barcelona have been concerned about the loss of talent flowing out of La Masia in recent seasons, and on Sunday night it came back to bite them in particular painful fashion.
This season La Masia Director Jose Ramon Alexanco has come under pressure for the failure to retain talents like Victor Barbera and Ilias Akhomach, who will leave the club on a free this summer.
Forward Iker Bravo turned down a renewal offer in 2021, and decided to head to Bayer Leverkusen, before returning to Spanish football with rivals Real Madrid in the summer of 2022.
In their play-off semi-final Real Madrid Castilla were trailing 4-2 from the first leg, but with matters finally poised at 4-3 on aggregate, Bravo was sent on to remedy the situation. In a matter of minutes, Bravo powered a header low into the corner, levelling things up, before Sergio Arribas scored the winning penalty in stoppage time.
📺 RESUMEN #PrimeraFederación
3-0 | @lafabricacrm – @FCBarcelonaB
⚽️ 1-0 | #Dotor (21’)
⚽️ 2-0 | @ikbravo9 (78’)
⚽️ 3-0 | #Arribas (94’)📍 Alfredo Di Stéfano
📹 Partido completo: https://t.co/YsUu7jtFOB#ElFútbolDePrimera pic.twitter.com/maWWY9SAGJ
— Primera Federación (@Primera_RFEF) June 12, 2023
Naturally Barcelona place plenty of stock in La Masia, and while they will not be able to retain every talent, it will continue to furrow brows in Catalonia that many of the best talents are leaving. This reminder from Bravo may well spark action.
