The top five Barca youngsters that drew Valencia

By on February 10, 2016

Barcelona drew Valencia 1-1 in the Copa del Rey today, thought the proceedings were but a sideshow after last week’s decisive first leg, when the Blaugrana won emphatically 7-0. With Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez sharing the goals in the real show, today’s meeting was largely a competition between two reserve teams and thus largely overlooked. Yet at the same time, we might have closed our eyes to a glimpse of Barca’s future; today saw five Barca youngsters star in the squad against Valencia, all hoping for a break there way into the starting lineup in the next few years.

Wilfrid Kaptoum

The teenage Cameroonian striker came on as a late second-half substitute for Sandro Ramirez. Within two minutes, he buried his first senior goal for the club. Kaptoum joined Barca at the age of twelve after being scouted at Samuel Eto’o’s youth foundation and has slowly made his way through the youth ranks and reserve teams. He has scored four goals in seventeen appearances for Barcelona B and made his first senior appearance as a sub in a recent Champions League meeting with Bayer Leverkusen.

Kaptoum impressed in a Copa del Rey match against CF Villanovense in October and will hope to use his first senior goal as a platform to earn more time with the first team. He stands at 5’ 9’’ and is blessed with an exceptional balance and quick feet.

Munir El Haddadi

At the age of twenty, Munir El Haddadi is already dubbed Barca’s next star and has made twenty-two appearances for Luis Enrique’s side, as well as a sole cap for Spain’s senior side. He first made his name in CF Rayo Majadahonda’s youth academy in 2010 after scoring thirty-two goals in twenty-nine matches and was quickly scooped up by Barca after interested from Real Madrid and Manchester City was reported. He scored two goals in his Uefa Youth League debut and broke into Barca’s reserve side in the spring of 2014.

His career has had a steady upward trajectory since, scoring a goal to mark his first team debut in August 2014. Munir has fully immersed himself into the first team after traveling to the United States with the squad for their preseason tour and is heir apparent to Messi and Suarez. The fleet-footed forward’s preferred position is striker, although he has primarily featured out wide for the first team. He’s composed when running with the ball and beyond his eye for goal, his work ethic makes him a sure bet to be a part of Barca teams for many years to come.

Sergi Samper

Sergio Busquets is only twenty-seven, but has been a midfield lynchpin in wildly successful Barca teams for the past seven or eight years.

In recent years, Sergi Samper, an impressive twenty-one-year-old defensive midfielder, has been sitting in the wings, lapping up the experience of playing with one of the world’s best, and waiting for his turn at the spotlight.  Based on a hatful of appearances in the cup over the last few years, the twenty-one-year-old is on the fast track to join Barca’s starting eleven in the next few years.  He’s been at the club since the age of six and perfectly fits their mould.  “Barca are the club of my life and if I can, I would like to stay here forever,” he said last summer.”

Carles Alena

Since joining Barca at the age of eight, Alena has captained all the youth teams he has played for and recently broke into Barca’s reserve team.He has also captained Spain’s U17 side and scored the below wonder-goal in the Uefa Youth League.

This was Alena’s first call-up to Barca’s senior side and at the age of eighteen, with his dribbling skills, it certainly won’t be the last for the attacking midfielder.

Sandro Ramirez

Barca might have been recently slapped with a year-long transfer ban from FIFA, but there’s no need to worry about them. Alongside Munir, Alena, Kaptoum, and Samper, twenty-year-old starlet Sandro Ramirez is also waiting in the wings for first team action and there’s no doubt that it is coming soon. The versatile forward has already made ten league appearances for Enrique’s men this season and scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 win Copa del Rey win over Villanovense.

Sandro was born in the Canary Islands and joined Barca’s famed youth academy La Masia at the age of fourteen. He has played at the Under-16, U17, U18, U19, and U20 levels for Spain and after a fantastic spell for Barca’s reserves, joined the first team in 2014 and already has Champions League experience.

Homepage photo credit: Andrea Buratti (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.