Barcelona received welcome news on Monday as talented youngster Riqui Puig signed a contract extension to stay at the club until 2021.
Puig has been tipped to join the first team soon, continuing the long line of products from Barca’s famed academy, La Masia, to appear for the club.
Here are five other players currently regarded as among the best La Masia prospects.
CARLES ALENA
The 20-year-old midfielder is one of the brightest prospects to emerge from La Masia in recent years, and with club legend Andres Iniesta having departed there is a chance Alena could be promoted.
He’s already played for the first team on a handful of occasions over the last two seasons, but fans have been clamouring for a full-time promotion. Having top-scored for a struggling Barcelona B side, the time is ripe to give the fans what they want.
Carles Alena is on the verge of a first-team breakthrough.
MARC CUCURELLA
Cucurella signed a two-year deal after starring in the B team’s promotion campaign to the second tier of Spanish football in 2016/17. However, since then, he hasn’t quite done enough to earn a first-team promotion.
He’s thought to be a long-term successor to Jordi Alba at left-back. But with Alba 29 and at the peak of his powers and his deputy, Lucas Digne, 24, a France international, a path to the first team may be blocked for now. Cucurella turns 20 this summer and will want to see what his future looks like over the next year.
Marc Cucurella may be wondering if he has a future at Barcelona.
SERGI PALENCIA
Captain of Barcelona B, Palencia could solve a problem position for the first team. Barca have yet to find a right-back to replace Dani Alves, having tried converting midfielder Sergi Roberto to the position and then buying Nelson Semedo for the role.
Semedo and Roberto have split time at the position over the past season, but there’s an opening for a player like Palencia to come through. After Alena, Palencia is the likeliest youth product to make the jump up to the first team.
Sergi Palencia has been tracking a well-worn path to the first team.
ORIOL BUSQUETS
No relation to senior colleague Sergio – although the two players are quite similar. Busquets made his first-team debut in the early stages of the Copa del Rey this season, looking every bit the composed defensive midfielder his namesake is.
His apprenticeship at the B team level continues, but the 19-year-old could soon be the second Busquets in Barca’s senior squad.
There could be another Busquets in Barcelona’s first team soon.
ALEX COLLADO
Alex Collado is rated as one of the best midfield prospects at the club. Along with Busquets and Alena, Collado can expect to see more first-team action soon.
The 19-year-old can play as both an attacking midfielder and as a winger, which makes him an ideal backup to players like Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele.
Alex Collado is the next midfielder up in La Masia’s famed production line.
