[MENTION=20959]BarçaBarça[/MENTION]
Agreed with your point but the problem is I don't see many young born leaders/captains like Puyol not only at Barça but overall in the world of football. Youngsters nowadays are more concerned about their hairstyle, twitter, money, partying,... than taking whole team on their shoulders and lead it through good and bad (and it's bad times when good captains are most needed).
I know club and NT football are different but Neymar was Brazil captain for some time. Yes, he is their best player and was one of the best young talents in the world 2-3 years ago but I don't consider him as a captain material. The same for Pogba, Dybala,... who are (or were) supposed to take over the football world in the future. I know biggest stars are not always also captains but they are players expected to have even bigger role in their teams in the future and someones who younger players (in their teams and overall) will often consider as their role models. It's too early to judge some 21 and younger players personalities and I could easily overlooked someone who could develop into a great leader but from the insight I have now I just don't see many potential new Puyols, Tottis, Maldinis or Gerrards emerging in upcoming generations. So not having enough leaders could not only become a problem of the future for Barça but for most clubs.
We were spoiled to have a generation of not only great players but also great human beings here in the past as well but especially over the last decade. Not many locker rooms would be strong enough to go through what Iniesta, Messi, Busi,... (and some others that have left already) have with Tito and Abidal cancer alongside Laporta's, Rosell's and Bartomeu's affairs (all of them did their amount of shit that could influence players even more negatively if they were not strong enough) and other more usual football stuff like coaching and players changes and still won what they have. I don't think it's enough appreaciated what they've done going through so much adversity because we as fans always demand more, more and more and are not happy if we only win La Liga or Copa.
So with the old guard slowly but inevitably retiring/leaving in the next 2-4 years we should absolutely look to bring some of that personality back to the club. It will be almost impossible to replicate what we had and still have in some extent and hopefully some of current players (MATS, Umtiti, Coutinho, Roberto,...) will still be here and be able to take over veteran leadership roles when that time will come but when buying new players we should also consider their character almost as much as their football talent. I know many people are on "sign every 20 year old kid that has shown some potential and we'll be settled for the future" train but things are not that easy. Even if we'll be lucky and find the right players talentwise they could still fail if they won't have the right mentality and at the same time we won't have strong enough locker room to support them. While I'm not against rejuvenating the team (and that process has already started 2 years ago) we should still try to find the right balance between veterans and youngsters if we don't want to turn into Arsenal from a few years ago (Wenger has also changed his approach recently because he's finally starting to feel pressure on him but I think it's already too late).
Sorry for using Neymar's example again but I think it's very possible he wouldn't develop into what he's today if he'd come to a different European team where he'd be made as a star of the team immediately when he was 21. For all we know he could even turn into the next Robinho or any of the other once highly promising Brazilian youngsters that have later failed in another club without Messi, Xavi, Iniesta,... guiding and helping him. Importance of veteran leadership is still often overlooked when people are making their "dream teams" of the future and we shouldn't forget about that when planning future after Iniesta, Busi, Pique and especially Messi.
