La Masia, FC Barcelona’s youth academy is a program devoted
to developing young athletes with one philosophy from the very beginning. This
philosophy consists of an application of total football mixed with traditional Spanish
one-touch play. La Masia’s purpose has always been to educate, both of sport
and of intellect.
In 2011, La Masia was moved to its new facility, Oriol Tort
Training Center. This is a 6,000-square meter building with five stories, housing up to 83 youth athletes. The center cost a whopping 8.8
million euros (not including 2.3 million in taxes and fitting out). So where
does this money come from? Why is Barça willing to spend millions on these
youngsters from all over the globe?
As of 2015 there were 43 La Masia alumni playing in Europe’s
five leading leagues. 43 players may not seem like many, when there are more
than half that many players on a standard professional squad. But think again.
Lionel Messi, La Masia’s most famous alum, release clause
recently rose to 300 million euros for the next 4 years. 300 million euros
could pay for 27 new La Masia Oriol Tort Training Centers. So, I’m willing to
say that FCB is making a pretty good investment in these homegrown youngsters.
Info from: www.fcbarcelona.com
I really like this post, I think it's interesting to crunch the numbers and see how beneficial La Masia can really be, and has been in past years. The fact that Messi has brought in so much money for FC Barcelona is unbelievable! With that being said, because it is so rare to come across a player like Messi, is there ever a point in which the club is investing too much in La Masia and not creating strong enough players to make it worth while? I came across an article that addressed the subject and thought it could be interesting to compare the opinions.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/barcelona-set-double-investment-la-9129965
-Olivia Haskell
You bring up a really interesting point! It's a tough call to make, especially since it's not necessarily the most secure investment to make, but the chance of getting another player even remotely close to Messi is an opportunity that football clubs aren't going to want to pass up on
DeleteI feel like finding a player like Messi makes up for all the players that didn't turn into soccer superstars. I think that La Masia will continue to be a big part of a club until they go many many years without producing a Messi or contributing to the line up FCB significantly.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post as it looked not just at the players, but at the financial situation surrounding La Masia as well. I thought you brought up a good question: why is Barcelona so open to spending so much money investing in young kids? To answer that question, I agree with Genevieve's response in that finding a player like Lionel Messi makes up for all of the other players they invested in who never panned out. Someone like Messi is a once in a generation talent and the idea that another player of Messi's caliber could again be discovered at an institution like La Masia should keep the facility up and running for years to come, despite the high cost.
ReplyDeleteFitz,
DeleteYou bring up a question that I never directly addressed, Is it beneficial to keep La Masia running if La Masia doesn't produce a player like Messi for a number of years? Your answer is yes and so is mine but I would love to hear some arguments for no. Is there anyone who thinks that La Masia should close if they don't produce a soccer superstar again soon?
Max Pauley
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice read. Direct and to the point. I wish the United States had academies like this. I would have loved to do this for basketball growing up. I am curious what the annual costs are to maintain the facilities, room and board, meals, and the education for these young men? Lionel Messi has made me a believer in the academy process.
Jonny Drake
ReplyDeleteThis post brings up a very interesting question. It's tough to put a price tag on an athlete that is home grown a role model to so many people in Barca the way Messi is. Moreover, I believe these academies give athletes with rare talent a chance to complete against some of the best talent and improve their skills more drastically than they otherwise would. I would be curious to hear an athletes perspective on what these academies are like.
Jonny,
DeleteThanks for your comment! Maybe for a future post I will try to take the point of view of a player that went to La Masia. And see what value the player got from going there and why it was the best business decision for them to go to La Masia.
Thanks!