Young and with a future… culé?, by Joaquín Luna

FC Barcelona is going through sweet days when it comes to the ball. With four veterans as well as four recently divorced, the arrival of talent from La Masía and an English-speaking coach free of prejudices, the team leads the League, competes in Europe and has returned the joy of life to the fans. Thank goodness we journalists are left to spoil the party…

Suddenly, FC Barcelona has become a Christmas showcase available to the entire football world. Come and see: young people with talent, future and –mostly– modest chips. And as a bonus, that guarantee that is so skillfully used in Brazil to do big business with mediocre results: the pearl of the moment is international.

I wouldn’t trust much in the emotional bond between young talents and the club that has given them everything.

The fan’s memory is tingy. He does not forget the joys but even less the sentimental setbacks. The club, with sports director Deco at the helm, has set out to protect its young talents, as this newspaper reported yesterday. Araújo (25 years old), Pedri (21), Gavi (20), Yamal (17) and Cubarsí (17) end their contract in 2026 or, in the case of the last one, in 2027. That said, contracts are not a guarantee of life today either. …

The dilemma arises when the club and to reassure the fan, the sentimental connection of these youth players is mentioned as a guarantee. Their virtues are so many that they could be called perfect sons-in-law. How can they not want to continue at Barça until the club kicks them, the fans whistle at them or they retire like Piqué? In addition to a big heart, young people have agents, those terrorists at the discretion of the fan. And these agents receive offers, make numbers, multiply – sometimes subtract – and manage to trigger the chips of their clients, either by blackmailing the club – “mengano has an astronomical offer from the Premier. I’m not saying that you’re going to make it better for me, but…” –, well, suddenly providing the money for the termination of the contract. An unsentimental process.

There have been so many players who seemed identified with Barça and so many who squeezed the club for every last euro (there is only one Carles Puyol). Even Luis Figo seemed madly in love with the club, the city and this Mediterranean. Or Neymar, for whom Sandro Rosell bid so much –and how many contracts, mother!–, whose fright was taken advantage of by many teammates to exorbitize their chips. Leo Messi was also not helpless when it came to calling the offices and demanding improvements, regardless of the fact that just months before he had already improved his contract. It is not a recrimination, just stating that Barça should not rely too much on sentimentality, not even that of those who are 17 years old and are our children.

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