Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy has produced countless world-class talents over the last decade but the line of succession to the first team from the facility has dried up in recent years.
Indeed, the situation has regressed ever since the peak of 2012 when in a 4-0 win over Levante the Blaugrana fielded an entire XI of academy players for an hour.
With Sergio Busquets turning 30 this year, Sergi Roberto will remain as the only La Masia product in the first-team fold in their 20s.
The other three, Lionel Messi (30), Andres Iniesta (33) and Gerard Pique (31) are all entering the final stages of their careers with no obvious heir apparent from the club’s famed production line.
However, Pique rejects the opinion a golden era for the academy is over.
“It’s not correct, it’s not correct at all. You cannot control talent,” he told Fortune in an exclusive interview.
“You never know. Maybe in one year there appears three new Messis or three new Xavis or three new Piques. And then you have five or six years that you don’t have the luck to bring any new guys from La Masia.
“La Masia is one of the main pillars of the club. And we have to invest very highly in that. There is a lot of money around football and there are more people investing millions and millions.
“And if we want to compete the best way is to try invest in our home, in La Masia where we know we have results in the last 10 years.
“It is a big resource for the club. Me as a representative of La Masia I can say that it was a great experience for me as a young guy.”
