On 25 November 2012, Barcelona realised a dream. Fourteen minutes into a La Liga fixture at Levante, the Catalan defender Martin Montoya replaced the Brazilian Dani Alves.

In doing so, a wintry evening in Valencia became for ever enshrined in Barca's history, marking the first time that the entire first-team XI comprised only products of the club's iconic La Masia academy.

Victor Valdes was in goal. Montoya, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and Jordi Alba made up the defence. Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Xavi graced the midfield. Up front, Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas completed the team.

Dani Alves (second from left) was the only player not from Barcelona's La Masia to start against Valencia at the Mestalla in November, 2012

Barcelona, managed that day by Tito Vilanova, himself a product of the academy, won 4-0 and went on to lift the league title.

The proficiency of the Barcelona youth academy was underlined when a trio of La Masia graduates – Messi, Xavi and Iniesta – formed the three finalists for FIFA's Ballon d'Or at the awards ceremony in Zurich in 2011. And if the three men on the podium were not enough, La Masia graduate Guardiola was anointed coach of the year.

Guardiola saw Johan Cruyff as the inspiration at La Masia. 'I knew nothing about football before knowing Cruyff. Johan arrived and he said: "Guys, now we play this way." When I was there, you see seven-year-old kids doing the same training session as the first team.

'He created something from nothing and to do that, you have to have a lot of charisma and personality.'

When Martin Montoya replaced Alves, it was the first time in Barca's history that their entire XI had come through the academy

The original Masia was built in 1702, beginning as a workstation for construction and architecture. In 1957, it became the club's headquarters, and then, as Barca expanded, La Masia was remodelled once more, evolving into the academy centre on 20 October 1979, when former President Josep Lluis Nunez accepted Cruyff's advice and Oriol Tort devoted his life to co-ordinating the youth network.

Yet Cruyff was not the first to suggest that Barcelona professionalise their scouting process, house children and indelibly inscribe Barca into a child's mind and body.

Rather, the concept of a Catalan academy with Barca principles was first outlined more than 20 years before, in 1957. And what's more, the original brainchild behind Barcelona's glorious potential was a Basque refugee from the Spanish civil war, a child who boarded a ship to Southampton in 1937 and settled in the Midlands. And his inspiration was Manchester United and the Busby Babes.

An aerial view of Barcelona's famed La Masia, which has produced some of the game's best

Emilio Aldecoa was only 14 years old when his parents placed him on the Habana steamship to Southampton. In the broadest terms, the Spanish Civil War can be described as a battle for supremacy between right-wing Nationalists and left-wing Republicans.

As Franco's Nationalists advanced in March 1937, the Basque Republic – Euskadi – became embroiled in a struggle for its very existence. The Basque army eventually surrendered in August 1937, but it is a narrative of rare butchery.

Writing in The Times Literary Supplement in 2007, Nicholas Rankin recorded that 7,000 had been killed in battle by the time of the surrender. Afterwards, some 6,000 were executed, 45,000 more imprisoned, while 150,000 went into exile for decades to come.

A group of Spanish refugees - including Emilio Aldecoa - from the Civil War gather together

Franco and his generals were able to count on the collaboration of the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and his German counterpart Adolf Hitler. The combined forces were behind the brutal attacks on the Basque towns of Durango and Guernica in the spring of 1937, which are accepted as being the first aerial bombings of civilian populations in Europe.

At the Guernica Peace Museum, stark realities are laid bare. An exhibition records that the Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria dropped 'a minimum of 31 tonnes of bombs' on this historic town during three hours of sustained bombardment.

It is claimed that one square kilometre of urban centre was wiped out and 85.22 per cent of buildings in the town were completely destroyed. The rest were at least partially affected as the fires kept burning for several days.

The Basque government recorded 1,654 victims. According to the museum, there are 38 separate testimonials to corroborate these figures.

Around 33,000 children were evacuated from the region. The vast majority went to France. Others went to the Soviet Union, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland. The UK took just under 4,000, as Sabino and his two brothers were placed on the steamship Habana to Southampton. And, as trivial as it may seem, it was also the beginning of the Spanish story in English football.

Emilio's son, John Aldecoa, says: 'Dad was like a war veteran. The stuff that went on doesn't bear thinking about. I remember times when he went to visit family in Spain. He was always frightened or extremely wary of the Guardia Civil. He never spoke about the boat journey. He spoke about the family that took him in at Stafford. He came into the campsite at Southampton and wound up in Stafford.'

In Stafford, Aldecoa began to play football in the games arranged specially to raise funds for the Basque boys. He was well into his teenage years and earned a job with English Electric, the industrial manufacturer formed in 1918.

Aldecoa as a teenager in Southampton outside the Basque House for refugees (left) and taking a corner during his playing days (right)

Following the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the British workforce gradually became depleted and in Aldecoa they found a willing labourer.

He started playing for the English Electric football team and one of the trainers contacted Wolves and they gave him a trial. They told him, 'Get to the ground on Saturday and we will give you a runout.'

Aldecoa signed up in 1943 and, at the age of 20, he made his professional debut against Crewe Alexandra. In doing so, he became the very first Spaniard to play a professional football match in English football.

'It's an amazing source of pride for me,' John beams. 'At Wolves, he played as a number 11.'

John points to a match report from a local newspaper. He reads it aloud. 'Aldecoa could outpace all opposition and was always a potential match-winner.'

In the 1943-44 season, Aldecoa emerged as the club's most lethal weapon, scoring eight goals and finishing as the top scorer. By 1945, he had earned a move to Midlands rivals Coventry.

'He really did it for the love of the game,' John says. 'There wasn't much for him here in football in terms of cash, players weren't paid vast sums until Jimmy Hill came along and fought for their rights. It was £6-a-week in the summer and £8-a-week in the winter. When he played at Coventry, he'd work as a groundsman during the summer to earn extra money.'

Yet after three campaigns at Coventry, Aldecoa returned to Spain, signing for Athletic Bilbao and enjoying two impressive seasons before attracting the attention of Barcelona.

In Catalonia, Aldecoa joined a team that would go down in the annals of football history. Spearheaded by the legendary Hungarian Laszlo Kubala, Barca became the dominant force in Spanish football. They won three consecutive Copas del Generalisimo, in 1951, 1952 and 1953, as well as two La Liga titles, in '52 and '53.

In that period, they also won the Copa Eva Duarte and the Copa Martini Rossi, and subsequently became known as 'Barca de las Cinco Copas', for winning five trophies in the 1951-52 season after also adding the Copa Latina to their haul.

Aldecoa in Barcelona colours (back left), with Hungarian Laszlo Kubala kneeling in front of him

GUERNICA TO GUARDIOLA: HOW THE SPANISH CONQUERED ENGLISH FOOTBALL Adapted from GUERNICA TO GUARDIOLA: HOW THE SPANISH CONQUERED ENGLISH FOOTBALL by Adam Crafton, published on May 3 by Simon & Schuster at £20. © Adam Crafton 2018. To order a copy for £15 (offer valid to 10/5/18; p&p free), call 0844 571 0640 or visit www.mailshop.co.uk/books Advertisement

Kubala was the Messi of his time, a byword for greatness. In 11 years as a Barca player, he scored 280 goals in 345 games. Aldecoa and Kubala became close friends and until his dying day, Aldecoa wore a gold wristwatch presented to him by the Hungarian.

It was off the field, however, that Aldecoa's most impressive feat can be found. In 1957, he sent a proposal to the Barcelona hierarchy. It is, in essence, a prototype for La Masia.

It highlights concerns around Barcelona at the time, underlining their failure to recruit local talent from Catalonia. It then insists on the need for an organised scouting programme, the requirement for boys to be coached in the same manner at all age groups, the need for differentiation as players progress according to their mental and physical development, and Barcelona's obligation to house these children.

If you scrub out Aldecoa's signature, you could quite easily believe it to have been a report written by celebrated visionaries such as Cruyff or Guardiola. Perhaps most remarkably, however, the end of the report pays tribute to Manchester United and the Busby Babes, suggesting that Aldecoa may well have discovered his inspiration in the north-west of England

Aldecoa wrote: 'The expense of this process is very small if we consider the benefits it can and must bring. Manchester United, it must now be twelve years ago, saw their stadium in ruins after the aerial bombings [during the Second World War].

'They had no team and had to play matches in the stadium of their neighbours, Manchester City, to whom they paid a rent. Today they have a magnificent stadium, having constructed a wonderful stand worth some £200,000 and they are one of the most powerful English clubs.

'Their team is magnificent and YOUNG. They've spent some £18,000 and we can follow their lead. They have won three league titles between 1946 and 1957, lifting the trophy in 1952, 1956 and 1957.

'They have finished second on four occasions, won the FA Cup in 1948, reached the final in 1957 and been in the semi-finals on three other occasions.'

Aldecoa suggested a La Masia prototype based around the Busby Babes of Manchester United

Aldecoa's veneration of Sir Matt Busby's youth model is all the more remarkable as this was written before the air crash in Feburary 1958, when the team's fable became eternally crystallised into football folklore.

And just think of the La Masia alumni who may owe Aldecoa a debt of gratitude: Guardiola, Fabregas, Puyol, Xavi , Mikel Arteta, Pique, Messi, Ivan de la Pena, Sergi, Iniesta, Hector Bellerin and Bojan Krkic are just a selection.

Can it really be that Messi is indebted to an adopted Midlander? And can La Masia be deemed one of the greatest, unknown legacies of the tragic Busby Babes?

Manel Tomas Belenguer, the historian who maintains Barcelona's archives, is unable to find any record of an official club response to Aldecoa's letter.

It may all be coincidence that Barcelona's academy was developed in this way when Cruyff and Tort assumed the reins of power. There is, however, evidence to counter this.

A look at one of La Masia's rooms, which has reputation for producing world class players

We do know that Aldecoa remained close to key figures at the club and, in the early 1970s, the president of Barcelona, Agusti Montal, made a concerted attempt to bring him into the club as a translator and aide to the English coach Vic Buckingham and his assistant Ted Drake.

Aldecoa declined but always remained close to directors at his former club and particularly Kubala, who managed Barca between 1961 and 1963 and then again in 1980.

Aldecoa and Kubala would exchange coaching manuals and John recalls how his father would fill exercise books with training notes and ideas for the evolution of young talent.

Kubala, according to several accounts in the Catalan press, pushed for an organised academy system during the 1960s, but it only came to fruition when recommended by Cruyff in the late 1970s.

'I'd like to believe they listened,' smiles his son John. 'Because it is some legacy.'



