13 players you had no idea were La Masia academy graduates

Barcelona’s La Masia academy is one of the finest football schools on the planet – so much so that players who learn their trade there often go on to excel in the professional ranks without making a mark on the Barca first team.

While players like Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta have come through the Catalan club’s academy and then become legends at Barca, there are plenty who’ve had to move away but still forged respectable careers.

Here, we’ve brought together 13 players who you will have heard of, but probably had no idea – or had completely forgotten – were alumni of La Masia.

Andre Onana

The path between Barcelona and Ajax is well trodden – but it’s usually in the direction from the Netherlands to Catalonia. Onana did the opposite, moving to the Amsterdam club in 2015 after five years in the Barcelona youth ranks.

The way he plays is exactly the way you would imagine for a goalkeeper with those clubs on his CV, too – bold, brave, always looking to make an extra passing option for his defenders and get his foot on the ball as well as his gloved hands.

Those abilities saw him help Ajax to five major trophies as well as a Europa League final and Champions League semi.

Onana missed most of the 2021-22 season for a harsh drugs ban, handed down after he mistakenly took one of his wife’s diuretic pills, which contained a forbidden substance.

He’s now back in the game, however, and has moved to Inter Milan, where he’s looking to win even more shiny pots.

Manu Trigueros

An absolute legend at Villarreal, where he’s played well over 400 games, Trigueros spent a single season with the Barcelona Under-18s in 2007-08.

He barely got in the team and moved on to Murcia before signing with Villarreal – initially playing for the C team. He’s since established himself as one of the most reliable midfielders in La Liga and was even linked with a move back to Barca in 2021.

Nayim…

… from the half-way line.

Yeah, him. The very same. Spent almost a decade at Barca as a youngster. Even made seven senior appearances.

Best remembered on English shores as a Tottenham Hotspur hero – more for the outrageous goal he scored against Arsenal while playing for Zaragoza in the 1995 Cup Winners’ Cup final than what he did at the Lane though.

READ: Nine of the best halfway line goals: Nayim, Rooney, Rivaldo, Alonso…

Mikel Arteta

Current Arsenal boss David Brent Mikel Arteta spent five years at La Masia, playing for the Barca C and Barca B,…