Leo_Messi
New member
I have been regularly following La Masia for a decade now and Aleñá has been clearly the most prominent midfielder talent since Iniesta.
Some rate Cesc and Thiago higher but I have never seen such dominant performance from a midfielder especially during his time in Juvenil B and A. He was much more than just a talented attacking midfielder. His role was more similar to that of Messi and he was given complete freedom. There were even matches that he created 18-20 chances ALONE in the first half only.
Puig on the other hand, while still being considered as a good talent, it was only the last season that he truly showed he has the first team potential when Pimienta took over the Juvenil A team. Until then, he struggled a lot and didn't even make to the starting 11. That was one of the reasons why his promotion was so late compared to Oriol (and others) who is the same age. It was Pimenta who helped Puig to step up his game. So unlike Aleñá who always has been considered as the best talent in La Masia since he joined the academy, Puig was not the case. I hope you are not one of those people who just recently started overhyping him. No one knows who will end up as a more successful footballer in the future but up till now, Aleñá has been and is a clear winner.
I have been following La Masia regularly (a few games each month) for 15+ years. If seniority is of any worth.
Let us not kid ourselves. At no point, at least not in the media, was Aleñá the higher rated talent than Thiago and dare I say Cesc. In any case, yes, he was highly rated but that does not really mean much as there have been TONS of highly rated La Masia prodigies who were overrun by lesser hyped and known La Masia talents who made it bigger.
Bojan, probably THE MOST hyped La Masia product in the past decade, was overtaken by the likes of Busquets and Pedro. No need to say more.
Just because I see a bigger innate talent in Puig and like the profile more (as they are more rare IMO) does not mean that I am overrating Puig (where did you see that in this thread?) or that I am somehow not rating Aleñá. I rate both of them highly. Always wrote that and wrote it recently in this very thread. However I, like any other persons, have my preferences. In any case it is notoriously difficult to predict which talent is going to have the better career as so much can occur (even extremely unpredictable things).
What I just want to see is for talented La Masia players to actually get the chance for the first team irrespective of name, position etc. That and us continuing to be truthful to the Johan Cruyff model and the ethos and philosophy of our club that has made us what we are. With enormous success sporting wise, in terms of legacy, playing style and dynasties created. Second to none in the past 30 years as stated before.
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