‘It seems like’… 21-year-old Barcelona player explains his long road to the first team | OneFootball

Players who progress through La Masia and get the break into the Barcelona first team can largely be classified into two buckets. One contains the child prodigies, who have been destined for greatness for a long time and are fast-tracked into the first-team setup – Gavi, Ansu Fati, Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Bernal and Alejandro Balde.

The other, which is a slightly rarer occurrence, is a bucket that contains players like Fermin Lopez and Marc Casado, who have to toil through the youth ranks and even go out on loan (in Fermin’s case) before getting a chance in the first-team.

To put this into perspective, Lamine Yamal made his senior Barcelona debut before he played for the Barca Atletic team whereas someone like Casado played for the reserve team 67 times and even captained them for a season before finally getting a chance in the first team.

Thus, there is no one who can talk about the long road to the first team better than the 21-year-old himself. As quoted by Mundo Deportivo, here is what Marc Casado had to say:

“It seems you have to debut at 17 or 18, but my process was slower, progressing step by step, and this also helped me to be more prepared when I debuted. It’s a good example of patience in an era of immediacy.”

“All these stages have now helped me to be more prepared. And I’ve always wanted to be at Barça. The club decided that these stages were best for me, and the evolution has been positive, allowing me now to perform at a good level.”

Due to the sheer number of players who have come through La Masia and broken into the first team at 16 or 17, it has almost created an illusion that if you fail to succeed by 17, you can never cut it at the highest level at Barcelona in your career.

Marc Casado’s emergence has shown one and all that there is life after 17 – all you need to do is put your head down and work hard. The 21-year-old midfielder did just that for all these years and he is finally coming into his own under Hansi Flick for whom he has emerged as the engine room.

All the hard work has now earned Casado a chance to play for Luis de la Fuente’s Spain team. He has been called up for the international break and could get the chance to make his senior debut. Let’s hope the 21-year-old can carry his club form onto the international stage and continue to develop from strength to strength.