Barcelona are back in Catalonia and preparing for the Joan Gamper trophy against Tottenham Hotspur, this time at Montjuic, following a disrupted tour of the US. However once again, the story of the preseason has been the youngsters for the Blaugrana.
16-year-old Lamine Yamal made his debut last season, and continued to have minutes, while Ez Abde returned to action in a Blaugrana shirt and Alex Valle also got some game time. Meanwhile Fermin Lopez came from nowhere to make a major impact, scoring and assisting against Real Madrid.
Sport have given a detailed account of how Xavi selects youngsters for game time. According to their report, which consists of accounts from two former La Masia coaches in Franc Artiga and Lluis Carreras, training is the biggest factor.
More than how players are performing for Barcelona Atletic or the Juvenil (under-19) sides, their training performance goes a long way. A member of his staff, Joan Barbara, acts as the link between the first team and the two sides mentioned above, meeting with Rafa Marquez and Oscar Lopez for updates on players.
This daily assessment is intensive, but keeps the competition and intensity in the game high. By the time Xavi decides to move a player up to first team training, he will already be well-aware of their qualities due to the numerous reports he is given.
Once he is satisfied that a player should join the first team dynamics, how they respond is decisive. There Xavi can see whether they are able to keep up with the speed of the ball movement, and whether they can adapt to being in the first team – a process which is less abrasive due to the similar style exercised through the academy.
Equally, some players tend to struggle with the pressure of playing with a Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan or Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but those who handle the adversity and can grow in that environment win the favour of Xavi.
Perhaps more so than their performance in matches, although that cannot be ignored, first team training acts as an audition for youngsters coming through, at which point Xavi may give them a shot on the pitch.
So far Xavi has shown a willingness to blood youngsters into the first-team, despite already possessing a young squad. The likes of Ilias Akhomach, Estanis Pedrola, Abde, and most notably Alejandro Balde have seen game time under him from the youth sides. On the flipside Nico Gonzalez never got much of a chance under him, and Pablo Torre was a signing, but has been loaned out after a season basically without playing. Lopez may well be the latest to make the jump.
