When will they graduate?

-By Sagar

To err is human.

Yes, someone who has decades of experience as a player, and then another decade as a manager has more knowledge about the footballing world and it’s workings than us ‘keyboard warriors’. The argument that managers and the training personnel are the ones who spend most of their time with these ‘developing players’, and that they are the ones with the most clear picture of how the player will turn out, is true. They see them day in and day out, interact with them, see how they influence their teams, their dressing room presence, everything!

But let’s not kid ourselves. Managers throughout the history have made some terrible calls regarding players. True, that for every one wrong call by the manager, we can find several good ones that paid off. But, there have been a lot of bad ones, impactful ones, of some magnitude, which the clubs have come to regret. Be it Pogba from United, DeBruyne from Chelsea, or Robben from RM. There are still numerous examples of such kind. If not the managers, it’s the board that intervenes and decides for the team. This again, can have a bad impact on the overall structure, like Perez with Makelele, or the Barca board with Thiago (even the coach is at fault for this one).



The situation with Samper and Grimaldo reeks with the same bad scent. That of folly. The whole thing stinks, with no one coming out to clear the air, and it’s stifling.

LaMasia was always an exceptional academy which saw a ‘golden period’ when it churned out Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, and Busquets in one era, and that transformed a “decent” youth center which churned out 1 or 2 starters, to a “disappointing” center which churns out….1 or 2 starters.

Expectations of seeing ‘another Xavi or Iniesta’ is a little extreme because they are ‘once in a life time’ kind of players, and we should be looking at the new gen players who might make their own names instead of the ‘next Messi’.

Samper and Grimaldo are players who are held in such high esteem, all around Spain, that Barca would be accused of committing a sin if they let them leave.

The rumors are making rounds, and normally the ‘silly season’ rumors are easy to ignore. But, when you look at what has been happening at Barca, suddenly everything around these two doesn’t look settled.

Samper is being linked to Arsenal again (First team action), and with Grimaldo’s contract running out next summer, seems like championship teams are interested in him (First team action).

B-team players need to be integrated into the team at some point, so their transition is smooth and silky, and what better time to use a CM (Samper) than when a number of midfield players are injured? What better time for a LB when Alba and Adriano were injured (and Mathieu who has time and again shown us that he can’t play at LB effectively)?

And yet, they are still confined to the third division. Why?

There are many narratives, from “Lucho does not want to waste their time on the first team bench”, to a conspiracy theory about Barto not wanting B team players to jump to first team too soon.

Pick any narrative you want but the result is, we are ignoring the solution to our ‘thinning team’ problem, AND ‘quality bench’ problem by overlooking these young guns.

Samper, with close control, mobility, and intelligent reading of the game can be a very good ‘reliever’ for Busquets, or a makeshift CM for the second half of the games.

Grimaldo with his exceptional ball control, reading, crosses, and movement can really give Alba a run for his money (ironically, the one stat for which Grimaldo cannot compete with Alba, is pace).

Before the Sevilla match, Samper was called to train with the first team, but he was listed in the B-team squad list, which came out 3 days before the B-team fixture and a day before the first team fixture against Sevilla. Why such discrepancies? Did Lucho want to use Samper? Did Lopez not want Samper in the first team? Does the board prioritize Barca-B team’s results more than the need to provide the first team with quality youth players? Or have the players been simply over-hyped?

Narratives and theories are many, the situation is hazy, and losing out on such talented young players might hurt Barca in the future. It’s time they came out and cleared the air, renewed Grimaldo’s contract, tied them down to Barca, and offer them enough minutes in the first team.

Try them first? Before deciding that they are not good enough?

To err is human, to repeat the same thing over and over? Insanity. Let this not be another ‘Thiago fiasco’.

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What say you?!