FC Barcelona Femení has been dominant in Spain and very competitive in Europe for the better part of the past 7 years. One of the key reasons for that is La Masia. Rarely makes headlines. But how is that a key? Let’s discuss.
Whenever we talk about FC Barcelona Femení, we talk about star players, we talk about trophies and winning an insane amount of games with even more insane score lines. Majority of the time. But a lot of people seem to not notice the incredible work behind the scenes. I know. I know, behind the scenes work is supposed to fly under the radar. That’s why it’s called behind the scenes.
Today, I intend to break the cardinal rules and try to explain FC Barcelona Femení’s greatest play in the playbook. The Recruitment policy. I hope you were not expecting some great exposé, lol.
Whenever a player is rumored to be in Barça’s sights, several teams are quick to jump on the wagon. Now, it can be argued that they also did their homework. I mean, they’d be stupid not to. But FC Barcelona Femení is the rubber stamp of quality. The gold standard. They go after a few, select players. Players that sometimes don’t look like a fit. Until they do, of course.
How and Why Does FC Barcelona Femení Recruit Players?
We could begin with one of Barça’s greatest strikers of all time. Asisat Oshoala. Asisat used to play for Arsenal Women and Liverpool by the way. Barça signed her from Chinese club Dalian.
Then of course there is one of the greatest wingers to ever grace Estadi Johan Cruyff, Lieke Martens. Toni Duggan, Stefanie van der Gragt, María Leon, the list goes on and on and on. The simple reason for recruiting/ signing all these players is to play a certain style of football, and win games.
That is first team recruiting. It is usually noisy, and most of the first team targets at some point become public knowledge. Then there’s bids, and world record fees. Occasionally, there is losing out as well.
Enter La Masia. The famous incubator known for hatching gems. It is also known for brooding gems. Scouts work overtime to fill the famous academy with talents and prospects from all over the globe. In the hope that all this pool of talent will bloom out to be renowned names in the game.
Recently, we have seen an increase in focus towards La Masia Femení (yep, I just made that name up). This is Barça’s real strength. Bolstering the future, even when the present is so good.
La Masia Femení.
Alexia Putellas, Patri Guijarro, Aitana Bonmatí, Ona Batlle, Claudia Pina, Martina Fernández, Jana Fernandez, Vicky Lopez and a whole other lot of players have all come through La Masia.
Now, they weren’t born there, of course. They were recruited into La Masia. And that is the master stroke. The line breaking pass in the play. Where it all starts.
Recently, people, scouts and clubs have all noticed that. Starting with Giulia Dragoni, who came in the winter of 2023. This was an important step in La Masia because previously, only players from Spain and especially Catalonia were featured.
In comes Dragoni, an Italian maestra, 15 years of age at the time. This opened the floodgates.
Fast forward a season later and there are two polish gems, a whole lot of Spanish talent and even an insanely talented American winger Onyeka Gamero, all coming through La Masia.
The latest to leave an impression is Swiss talent Sydneyjoy Schertenleib. Famously contacted by Barcelona via Instagram DMs, she is now in with the B team.
You want to win, you’ve got to recruit…
One of my favorite movie lines of all time is this: ‘You wanna win, you gotta recruit. That’s how the big boys do it.’
In case you couldn’t tell, that is ‘Glory Road’. It’s alluding to basketball players but the idea travels. Applies here too.
No one knows and lives that philosophy better than FC Barcelona Femení. It is also the quality of recruits that makes the difference. As we speak, there are no less than 20 world class players who came up through La Masia at some point.
Recruitment is an art, and Barça is Da Vinci. They have mastered it well.
The Race is Always On.
A few days ago, Blaugranagram reported that Yana Svistunova, a very talented Russian midfielder will reportedly be in trials in Barcelona on October 26. It is more or less the curve that was followed by Werka Arasniwicz.
Barça is always looking for more pieces of the puzzle.
What About the World Record Fees?
What about them? They are part and parcel of recruitment. Keira Walsh, Ewa Pajor, Kika Nazareth are all recruits. Who are all doing very well.
There are free players who join the team all the time. This year, it was Ellie Roebuck. Last year it was Esmee Brugts and Ona Batlle. The year before that it was Bronze, Paralluelo, Geyse and Vicky.
Either way you look at it, Barça always has the upper hand when it comes to recruiting.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how they manage to stay relevant. By recruiting, and recruiting well. Having a good system in place that almost flawlessly produces a talent or two to join the first team, each new season.
That’s the mundane but important detail in the way Barça builds a competitive roster every new season.
