In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Barcelona will host Manchester City in their first official pre-season friendly. Pep Guardiola will face his former club, whom he spoke about in the media ahead of the match.
Lamine Yamal was one of the topics discussed by Guardiola. He admitted to being blown away by the 17-year-old’s performances over the last 12 months – quotes via Diario AS.
“He’s extraordinary. Rodri tells me wonders about Yamal. He must have something special. If Xavi give him his debut (at that age), it is for a reason. But I’m sure he’ll have ups and downs, he’ll be calm because he has a lot of career ahead of him. He is where he deserves to be.
“The academy never fails. This generation I don’t know what their parents have given them, but they go like airplanes. Cubarsi, Pedri, Balde, Lamine and many others. The basis has always been them and signing great players from abroad. They know better than anyone the idiosyncrasies of the club and the pressure.”
Guardiola spoke highly of these La Masia talents, but he also revealed that he has been warned off signing anyone from his old club by Joan Laporta.
“They are too good. They are not for sale – the president told me. And I don’t say that with irony. In fact, Barcelona have signed more players from Man City than the other way around.”
If Laporta is telling the truth (who knows?) that all of the young players are “too good” to sell, then now is the time for him to fix Barcelona’s financial woes and sell all the high slary players for whatever they can get on the open market and bring all these “too good” (but cheap) young players to the forefront and start all over.