La Liga 2017/18

Highest budget can´t save Barça B from relegation

The team with the biggest budget this season in the Liga 123 was Barcelona B and their 47 million euro budget, a side who were relegated last week with just one round of fixtures remaining in the campaign. This annual budget was not just the highest in the league but surpassed that of many top flight clubs including the likes of: Leganés, Eibar and Girona and is on a par with that of Getafe's, a team who were on the cusp of securing a place in next seasons Europa League. The budget is put into context when compared to those of both promoted sides: Rayo (12,3) and Huesca (5,7) respectively.

57 signings

The failure of the B team is greater when studied in detail as it reflects poorly onLa Masia model, the academy from where the likes of Víctor Valdés, Puyol, Piqué, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi emerged. It would be naive to expect a bumper crop of talent every year and with Barcelona winning this years Youth League, it would give ground for optimism about future emerging prospects within the system. However the current Barça B side heavily features signed players and in fact 57 signings have been used by the B team in the past three seasons which has finally culminated with relegation to Segunda B.
 
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The end of La Masia. Barca have focused on splashing the cash on poor/average players in the last years, completely forgetting their youth.
 
They keep putting the wrong people in charge of the B team from Eusebio onwards, linked to that with Luis Enrique initially getting a great system working for the first team, but doing little to curate the squad and running it down with piles of random signings rather than filling the squad holes with youth players.
 
I really get tired when people bring up the current "failing" of La Masia.

I'm not happy with how the board is managing the youth ranks, but people often forget that the transfer sanction hit ten of our young players that were unable to play for years or got released, blocked any signing at youth level for two windows too iirc (Labinot Kabashi, who won this year's Youth League with Barcelona had his first transfer blocked) and probably made the board rethink their whole scouting/signings strategy at youth ranks.

So, all things considered, it's not that bad, people point to situations like Thiago or Bartra leaving the team but we've always bled talent from La Masia because they couldn't break through in their moment. Reina, Navarro, Pique, Arteta, Fabregas, Luis Garcia, Albert Luque, Sergio Garcia, Fabregas...

There's a fair point in that we're mistreating some of our players, Rafinha should stay, Denis get more minutes, Roberto isn't valued enough imo... but those things are "understandable" when the team is in a tough spot, between giving those guys options to lead our regeneration, or spending the money that we do have in proven players. When you have someone like Leo with a limited amount of ammo on his career, taking the quick route seems only logical.
 
I can't help but think that relegation might be a good thing for Barca's own youngsters. It has felt like Barca were recruiting for the B team, rather than buying the odd extra youngster because they had potential to go further, or the odd experienced player because they had the ability to lead and guide the youngsters. Liga 2 started to look like a thing in itself for Barca.

On the plus side, it would be nice to think it also means some of the smaller clubs are starting to rebuild their strength. It's been a tough few years in Liga 2/2B with lots of clubs going broke or having to lay off players.
 
Abidal is the new director of football in Barcelona(not sure if "secretario técnico" is exactly the same)
 
carvajal said:
Abidal is the new director of football in Barcelona(not sure if "secretario técnico" is exactly the same)
Click to expand...

No Director of football is still Pep Segura, Abidal is the Technical Secretary, he is just below Segura.

Segura contract runs out 30th June, rumors say he is getting the sack but i feel he is staying. I hope he fcks off.
 
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