Xavier Vilajoana: "Barça's methodology must preserve the talent we have in our academy"

Xavier Vilajoana is the director responsible for the formation of amateur football and La Masia at FC Barcelona. He's got four degrees and is currently studying for his fifth. He's the only person in the club's history to have been a professional in football (Barça C) and indoor football SPORT spoke to him to see his views on the changes made at the club this summer.

Let's start from the end and go backwards. Were you in favour of signing Neymar this summer?

On a purely sporting level, yes. Without a doubt.

Even after the way the player left and his current court case against the club?

It's clear that no one liked the way in which he left but you also need to value the fact he did everything possible to return to Barça.

Would you like to be president of FC Barcelona one day?

Which season ticket holder, who loves this club, wouldn't dream of doing that one day?

Do you believe there's more than one director who is ready to become Barça's president? 

I honestly believe there's more than one colleague who ticks all the boxes.

It wouldn't make you uncomfortable if you confirmed that you didn't like the way Pep Segura managed the academy.

I didn't hide from that, clearly.

Why?

I didn't say that Pep Segura didn't believe in our model, because he did, but he also felt that another type of player could fit within it too. And that didn't go down well with the academy.

Could you be more specific? 

There was strong too strong of a cut-off point between certain categories and it left us short.

In the end, Bartomeu agree with you.

I won't ever value the work Pep Segura did with the first team, only what his decisions meant for the academy.

And?

One of the motives behind why I insisted on a change in how the academy was being run, not the model, is that the person responsible for signing players for the first team can't also be fully in control of what the academy needs. They are two very different roles.

Let's talk about a classic topic: the number of players who leave before turning professional...

I always see the glass as half full. We must be doing something right if they come looking at our players. We do everything we can to make them to stay. We offer them a sporting project and a good financial base, which we've increased in recent years, depending on their age. What we can't do is allow them to sign a deal which promises them within two years they'll be promoted to the first team.

That's what happened with Xavi Simons... 

It's very simple, he went for the money. Every player has the right to choose to where they go but, to be honest, it's difficult for me to understand why in those ages they are so desperate to earn money. They lack patience. Look at Aleña...

What about Aleñá?

It's a great example for the boys at the academy to follow. He's a player from La Masia with massive potential who had offers to abandon Barça. He always opted to stay, progress and wait for his chance. Aleña always believed in himself.

And Paco Seirul·lo has returned to oversee the club's methodology.

That's true. The pillar of academy football at Barça is the talent and the way of playing football that is untouchable, from the prebenjamines up to juveniles. We had the feeling that this talent wasn't being taken advantage of.

And what happens now?

The methodology team, which is made up of seven people who are all at the club, are working independently of the coaching staff. They work alongside them. One of their missions is to form and prepare our coaches. Another is exhaustively following each player's progress. This is at evert stage of their development. It isn't the same, for example, playing 7-a-side as it is 11-a-side.

What do you hope to achieve?

That winning is a result of us doing the things correctly and become the players are progressing correctly. If at the beginning of the season they are valued as a six but finish the season with an eight, but never a four. And that's what happened in a few cases.