Carles Martínez Novell: “Barça’s youth system has a clear idea of what they want”

Carles Martínez Novell is Toulouse’s head coach, and one of the most admired managers in the Ligue 1. The French site is known for their modern data-driven approach, which helps them make the most of their squad, despite competing against teams with much bigger budgets. Martínez had a stint coaching in La Masía and has talked about it in an interview with Flashscore.

When analyzing possible causes for Barça’s youth system’s success, Martínez Novell points out that “at Barça, in the end, there is an obvious idea of ​​what they want, of how they play”, he quoted Arteta, who spoke about a healthy competitive environment in La Masia, “it really is like that. There is healthy competition, but in the end, teams in La Masia grow with a good atmosphere, with a great desire to improve, meaning that, in each training session, in each task, the player has to perform, they have to give their best, they learn to value what it takes. And, then, since they are seven or eight, they know that they have to be good and that they have to perform.”

Martínez believes that helps the young players that make it to the first team, “thanks to that, I think, they handle the pressure much better, of course, they are great talents too”, which brings him to the next topic, speaking about how it helps to have the same ideas in the youth teams than in the senior squad, “There are a thousand things that are different, but, in the end, they are people with the same objective, which is to improve. I don’t think there is much difference in how training is experienced in professional football or in youth football.”

Martínez Novell was coaching in Barcelona when Dembélé landed arrived at the team, and is now facing him in the Ligue 1. The Toulouse manager explains his improvement, “Football is about trust. We can work hard on tactics, we can try to do a thousand things, a thousand variations, but, in the end, when a player is well, when the player is happy, when the player is at his best, everything flows easier”, and continues, “Dembélé, to me, has always been an amazing player”, as he contributes a lot to the team offensively, “it’s true that right now he’s scoring goals, but before I think his game created a lot of space for others and, now, he creates the same and also scores. When a player is at that level, it’s very difficult to stop him.”