While Barcelona have suffered a difficult few years by their standards, there are plenty of signs of encouragement for their fans – as this brilliant XI of young stars demonstrates.
A lot of their big-money signings have failed to live up to expectations, although that hasn’t stopped Xavi from signing Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski this summer, but Barcelona already have some very talented youngsters on their books.
We’ve compiled an Xl of their best Under-23 players, arranged in a 4-3-3 formation.
GK: Inaki Pena
Admittedly, this doesn’t get off to the best start.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who turned 30 this year, is firmly established as Barcelona’s first-choice goalkeeper and a 33-year-old Neto serves as his back-up.
Pena is yet to make his first-team debut but has produced some impressive performances for Barcelona’s B side, helping them win the UEFA Youth League in 2017-18.
RB: Sergino Dest
After enjoying an impressive breakthrough season with Ajax, Dest reportedly rejected interest from Bayern Munich before completing an £18.7million move to Barcelona in 2020.
Despite struggling with kick-ups during his presentation, the right-back was a regular starter under former boss Ronald Koeman and has made over 70 appearances for the club.
But he has fallen out of favour under new manager Xavi and Barcelona have been linked with Chelsea and Spain defender Cesar Azpilicueta to replace him.
CB: Ronald Araujo
Araujo joined Barcelona from Uruguayan outfit Boston River in 2018 and was initially assigned to their reserves in Segunda Division B.
The 23-year-old made his first-team debut against Sevilla in October 2019 but was sent off just 13 minutes after coming off the bench.
He still did enough to earn a permanent promotion to the senior squad ahead of the 2020-21 season and was handed their No.4 shirt.
The Uruguay international has since proved himself to be an astute defender and is also a real threat in the opposition box, scoring six La Liga goals for Barca.
“I’m very happy to have Ronald on the team,” Xavi said last November. “He has such a great personality. He celebrates everything and to have that type of profile as a defender, to be so engaged with the team, and celebrate everything is hard to find.
“We welcome him with open arms because it’s spectacular to see him train, he’s so positive, he has an excellent character and that’s fundamental to us.”
Araujo seals the points for Barca! 🔵🔴
A great leap and…
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