Pedri, Cubarsí, Yamal — and plenty more besides. No academy in world football is more envied than Barcelona’s. Yet even with La Masia continuing to produce talent at a remarkable rate, the club has begun to look further afield. The approach remains the same: young players, long-term potential. But the search has widened, adding new pieces to a group already full of the next generation — some of whom, like so many of Spain’s leading figures at this World Cup, have already stepped into the present. The latest arrivals are two Under-23 players from Tenerife: Joni Hernández, a midfielder born in 2008 and a fellow Canary Islander of David Silva’s, and Juan Ybarra, a left winger four years older. Both will join Barça Atlètic.
The second team has become more than a finishing school for La Masia. In the last winter window alone, Barcelona added four players from abroad: Juwensley Onstein, Patricio Pacífico, Ajay Tavares and Hamza Abdelkarim, who arrived after appearing at the World Cup with Egypt. Ecuadorian midfielder Josué Caicedo has followed in recent weeks. Alongside them came a group of Spanish additions: Hernández and Ybarra, as well as Ignasi Quer and Javi Castro. Almost all were signed on free transfers or for fees that, by Barcelona’s standards, were minimal. The hope is that the best among them can develop quickly enough to enter the first-team picture. They have something that more established arrivals do not: time. Time to understand La Masia’s ideas, to learn its habits, to make its football their own. At Barcelona, that remains the reference point.
It is no coincidence that Deco sits behind much of this quiet work. The sporting director, once the conductor of Barcelona’s midfield, has overseen a series of moves designed around potential rather than immediate impact. Alongside him is Juliano Belletti, his former teammate in blaugrana and now coach of Barça Atlètic. The idea is not only to provide Flick with future options. Every player brought in carries the possibility of reaching Camp Nou, but also of becoming an asset if that stage never arrives. According to AS, the next name being followed is Jesse Bisiwu, the 18-year-old Club Brugge winger who has attracted strong interest from Barcelona. They are not alone. The Belgian club have already rejected an opening offer, determined to maximise the value of a player who has made clear his desire to wear the blaugrana shirt. Barcelona remains an irresistible pull, even for those who did not spend their formative years at La Masia but still need one more step before joining players like Lamine Yamal. After all, Yamal took that same route.