From small stature to big success: Ex-academy heads shed light on Barcelona starlet’s La Masia journey

The past few seasons have seen FC Barcelona once again rely heavily on the riches of La Masia and the strategy seems to be paying off extremely well.

In the likes of Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Bernal, Marc Casado, and Fermin Lopez, the Blaugrana have unearthed a spate of young talent who are going to be the present and the future of the club.

Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira are two key figures who helped Barça secure the signings of the aforementioned players to La Masia.

While the two are no longer at the club, the former Barcelona academy managers recently spoke to Mundo Deportivo in a detailed interview, during which they highlighted how the signings of some of the aforementioned players came about.

Fermin Lopez’s journey ‘cost the most’

Roura and Altimira revealed how they beat Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid by acting quickly to sign Gavi at La Masia, while also sharing the story of how Lamine Yamal left them amazed at the age of six years only.

Recalling the story of how Fermin Lopez was brought in and the journey that the young midfielder has had to go through to make it to the big leagues, the former academy chiefs were full of praise for him.

“It’s the story that cost the most. We saw him for the first time in a tournament in La Laguna with Betis. We had very good information, but they all went out onto the pitch and we saw that he was very small,” they said, pointing at Fermin’s diminutive physique.

While Fermin was shining, his lack of physical growth was starting to become a concern, but Roura and Altimira had full faith in him, as they revealed:

“But he started playing and he was very, very good. ‘He’ll grow up,’ we said. But he didn’t. And his father would say to us every summer: ‘It’s his turn to leave this year, isn’t it? And we would reply that Fermin would continue as long as we were at Barça.”

Now that he has become a part of the first-team setup and is thriving, they expressed their happiness and pride at his progress, saying:

“We insisted to the coaches, who always wanted to win, as is normal: ‘He has to play for a while always’. We’re very happy for him because he’s worked so hard.”