6 - Carles Alena

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
Arthur-1996

Frenkie-1997

Alena-1998

Puig-1999

don't count your eggs before they hatch, Puig isn't yet a 1st team player and we don't really know how good he is until we see him in meaningful game with 1st team. Won't count him with those guys yet
And honestly I've doubts that all 4 would last long together, one of them won't get get chances because of the others and likely leave, my bet so far on Puig


Thiago was better.

Thiago was elite, but he lacked the most important part for any player development: durability. His injuries derailed his career.
He has yet to play over 27 league games in a season during his career (Barca B included) although might happen this year at the age of 28
Hopefully, Alena is better in that aspect and that could make him better player eventually, still lot to learn
 

Zidane82

Well-known member
Arthur-1996

Frenkie-1997

Alena-1998

Puig-1999

Thought that was interesting to point out. It's very risky but you could also make a 4 man Midfield with all of these guys out on the pitch with Alena at the tip of the Diamond. With Arthur/FDJ as a #6 and Puig along with either Arthur/Frenkie as the other CM.

I mean sure the Midfield would be defensively raw but still I would actually pay to see this in action. :lol:

Love it !!
 

Devils

Senior Member
Slick Rick has a very long way to go.

What Alena is doing right now is VERY RARE these days. Coming from La Masia and putting in very good performances with the first team. It's exciting, but the opposite is that most good b-team performers flop in the first team.

Right now it is Arthur > FDJ > Alena >>>>> Puig.

Puig still has a long way to go before he can be ranked among those three.
 

te amo barca

Blaugrana al vent
ATM he is the only offensive conductor of the ball in our midfield. Even Coutinho would not be able to do what he does if put in midfield because he is slow and dwells on the ball too much.
 

Havesaks

Senior Member
Alena has played well in every game he has played.

Nice detail: 1996-1999. I could see it happen, but i do agree with the one user who said Puig has a long way. Especially under a manager like EV where you need some kind of physic to even be considered in midfield. Alena has that going for him, his physic is pretty for 21. I think Puig - if ever - wont have a breakthrough before he is 22-23 maybe even 24.
 

George_Costanza

Active member
don't count your eggs before they hatch, Puig isn't yet a 1st team player and we don't really know how good he is until we see him in meaningful game with 1st team. Won't count him with those guys yet
And honestly I've doubts that all 4 would last long together, one of them won't get get chances because of the others and likely leave, my bet so far on Puig

We do have the talents but it's up for the management to grow those talents. Much of the recent struggles from La Masia can be directed to the incompetent management of the board. The correlation is there since Sandro Rosell took over and decided to change and undo everything related to the old regime.

Who to say a player like Montoya maybe could have progressed differently under different circumstances? He was considered better than Carvajal who was Montoya's back-up in the UEFA European Under-21. Carvajal played 45 games in his first season with Real, while Montoya played 45 games in 4 seasons with Barcelona. See the difference? Of course, he will fail and won't live up to his potential. Between the ages 18-23 years old are very important age for players development.
 

clemente

New member
ATM he is the only offensive conductor of the ball in our midfield. Even Coutinho would not be able to do what he does if put in midfield because he is slow and dwells on the ball too much.

Coutinho is a slow midfielder? Were Iniesta and Xavi faster than him?
 

xXKonan

Senior Member
Guess the question now is can he be the answer to Iniesta's old role in the middle.

We have bought some CAMs but none of them could have adapted to the role. But he shows signs that he can very well do it if things go well with his development.
 

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
We do have the talents but it's up for the management to grow those talents. Much of the recent struggles from La Masia can be directed to the incompetent management of the board. The correlation is there since Sandro Rosell took over and decided to change and undo everything related to the old regime.

The management had ton to blame for sure, but I was talking in the sense that it is difficult to grow 4 young players in same time. Each of them will need playing time while there would still be a need to have a veteran presence beside them.
In 4 years, I doubt all 4 will be in the team, but it should be a question of who should we make our bets onto and who should leave at some point. We will need to make smart decision too if all were developing well
Remember, there is other younger talents than Puig that at some point will need to have the room to grow too


Who to say a player like Montoya maybe could have progressed differently under different circumstances? He was considered better than Carvajal who was Montoya's back-up in the UEFA European Under-21. Carvajal played 45 games in his first season with Real, while Montoya played 45 games in 4 seasons with Barcelona. See the difference? Of course, he will fail and won't live up to his potential. Between the ages 18-23 years old are very important age for players development.

In this very specific case I don't blame the board tbh, Montoya was just slow unlike Carvajal. For Montoya he looked great when the game was in slow motion but once the game was too quick for him he was lost. I fell for the hype but in a hindsight he never had what it takes to succeed unlike Carvajal.
RM has been doing some good decisions in this decade in developing their players for sure. I've been pointing out to this since 2015 or 2016.
 
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xXKonan

Senior Member
In regards to Montoya, there were some rumors under both Tata and Lucho, that Montoya had some questionable work ethic in training and going by what was going on between him and Lucho, I actually believe it.

You know things seemed bad when Douglas was ahead of you in the pecking order. :lol:
 

Aryagorn

Improvin' Perfection!!
As easy as it is to blame the management for the La Masia prospects not appearing in the first team; at the end of the day it takes to tango; it's not like the youngsters who went out are performing at a good level! Including the golden boy Thiago Alcantara, the La Masia graduates in the recent past have been disappointing on a whole!

And then we have the likes of Alena now emerging who are actually tapping the first team opportunities purely based on their skill!!
 

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