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10 Million Euros Isn't That Much Money



La Masia cost more than 10 million euros per year to run and keep up. This seems like a lot of money but when you put this in perspective from FC Barcelona’s point of view it isn’t actually that much money. FCB paid 64 Million euros for Neymar not including transfer fees when he was bought in 2013. And how much did they pay for Messi you may ask? Well, zero euros. If FCB could have produced a Neymar and not have bought him La Masia would easily pay for itself and it actually did in the case of Messi and many other players. La Masia saves the club money in many others ways as well. If a player comes from La Masia FCB doesn’t have to recruit for the First Team if they already have a player in La Masia that they want on the team. If a player comes from La Masia there is a lot less chance of their being a huge bidding war over this player between FCB and another club driving up the price of that player because the player has such loyalty to FCB. Speaking of loyalty, often players that come from La Masia stay with the club for a very long time, if not their whole career, so La Masia serves as an insurance policy to keep players loyal. There’s also a branding benefit of having a player when they are fresh out of the academy and being the first team to ever have this player. 

Can you think of any other benefits of having a player come from La Masia onto FCB’s first team? Or other ways that La Masia pays for it self? 

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 26, 2017 at 12:07 AM

    For how long does FCB have exclusive rights to their La Masia Players? When they come up to the first team are they under contract?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Admin Jessica/GenaOctober 29, 2017 at 2:33 AM

      It really depends on the specific situation of each player, as those who are immediately traded will have contracts with a different club. But Masia players are bound to FCB.

      Delete
  2. UnknownOctober 29, 2017 at 8:28 AM

    It is pretty incredible how smart of a business move it is to create an feeder academy like this. Do the families of the kids pay anything to send the kids there or do the clubs pay for everything for he kids? Another benefit of having an academy like this it to teach the players young. They learn their system and style of play from day one so that when they are ready to play for the professional team they do not miss a beat having to learn a new system of play.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownOctober 29, 2017 at 8:33 AM

      -Will

      Delete
    2. AnonymousOctober 29, 2017 at 1:52 PM

      The Ten Million euros a year takes care of all the kids day to day expenses. So it is truly an amazing investment for all parties involved.

      Delete
    3. Admin Jessica/GenaNovember 6, 2017 at 12:04 PM

      Thanks genevieve for bringing up that information! We can definitely see how you can get a great return on investment for players, but how often do giant super star players come out of the academies? It's a tough call.

      Delete

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