The nursery of LaLiga: Barcelona flooding Spanish football with talent

Barcelona are the great nursery of Spanish football. With the exception of Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Athletic Club, all the teams that have played in the Primera Division in the 2022-2023 season had at least one player in their first team who has come through the Catalan club's youth system, even if it was the last stage of the reserve team.

Some 50 first-team players, therefore, have Barça as a common denominator, some having spent years training at La Masia, others having gone straight to the reserves before the elite, but all of them linked to the Barça shirt. 

Of all of them, the team with the biggest representation is obviously Bará themselves. This past season, 10 players with a background in the academy played for the senior side. From veterans Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, in their final year, to those who have made their way into the first team this season step by step, the latest being Alejandro Balde and his impressive breakthrough. 

Other players who have already made their debuts with Xavi Hernández in the First Division are waiting to join the first-team squad (and this list), such as Angel Alarcón, Chadi Riad, Aleix Garrido or the jewel in the crown, Lamine Yamal and his record of precocity, and who could possibly appear on this list next season or in the following ones as full members of Barça's first team.

Academy to LaLiga

Héctor Bellerín -- who in the last winter transfer window was transferred to Sporting Portugal and next season will be another ex-Blaugrana player at Real Betis -- and Eric Garcia are two examples of players who have managed to reach the top from the smallest team, the Escola -- the current Barça Academy -- to the footballing elite with Barça.

There are only a select few, after all, who have made it to the Barça first team and settled in. Others have had to 'make a living' in other teams and have not fared badly. 

Perhaps it is not widely remembered that current Sevilla striker Rafa Mir came through Barça's youth ranks -- his team-mate Erik Lamela was very close to signing in 2004 -- or that Elche goalkeeper Edgar Badia started with the youngsters at the Escola up to Alevín B before signing for Cornellà, another youth academy from which many top players emerge every year. 

There is no shortage of particular and noteworthy cases, such as that of Pepe Reina, who has carved out an extensive career and who, at 40 years of age, is still going strong and has just renewed his contract with Villarreal. When he was 13, he joined La Masia from his native Madrid to play for the club where his father, Miguel, had also been in goal.  

Sergi Guardiola

Three of these canteranos, Nico Gonzalez, Alex Collado and Abde, have been on loan at Valencia, Elche and Osasuna respectively. The Moroccan can't be considered a full canterano, as he came directly to the reserve team, the same case as Ronald Araujo, Fali and 'Choco' Lozano (Cádiz), Jorge Cuenca and Kiko Femenía (Villarreal), Martin Hongla (Valladolid), Gumbau (Elche), Akieme (Almería) and Ruiz de Galarreta (Mallorca), but they have all gone through the last step of the cantera, that of Barça Atlètic. 

The one who came very close, as he even signed a contract, but only for a few hours, was the Cádiz striker Sergi Guardiola. It happened in December 2015 and until some offensive tweets about Catalans from previous years were recovered, which led to the decision of an immediate dismissal.

The Mallorcan can't make this list, but 50 others can. The irrefutable proof that La Masia is more alive than ever and that many clubs feed off it, not only in the Primera Division, but also in the Spanish Segunda A, European football and even the World Cup. And the fact is that the Barça talent never runs out.

The last season has had a clear Blaugrana colour, not only because of the brilliant league title won by Xavi's team, but also because two entire squads could be made up of players who have come through Barça's youth system. Revealing.