I have no doubt that he would be useful considering the state of our midfield. Still, Valverde he done nothing to suggest he'd promote kids.
It's too soon to say that. I believe his first 3 goals when he came here were:
1. Have a good start resultwise to get some peace back to the club after furious summer we've had. He more than accomplished that.
2. Make a selection out of the players which he already did very quickly. People might disagree with some of his decisions but I think we can agree that roles of the players are already very clear.
3. Find the right system that would fit the players we have the best. He's still trying different things but so far I believe he knows what he's doing.
I think those goals are totally understandable and most coaches are doing the same when they come to the big club from the outside. We can't really compare his situation with Pep who has coached Barça B before and knew players like Busquets and Pedro well enough to promote them. I'm pretty sure EV would do the same if he'd coach Barça B last season.
So I think integrating La Masia kids to first team wasn't his priority in first 3-4 months but he'll start to do that too. I don't expect anyone will get promoted this season but I'm sure Alena will get playing time with first team. And maybe others like Cucu, Palencia or Arnaiz as well. Most of them are also training with first team. But I think Valverde will have a better look at all of them next summer when most of our first teamers will miss some time in preseason because of World Cup.