La Masia's next generation: Barcelona's academy still sets the standard

The new wave

Every few years the question is asked — is La Masia finished? — and every few years the academy answers with a new crop of players who remind the world why Barcelona's youth system remains the benchmark.

The current generation has arrived earlier than most: teenagers already playing first-team minutes, a midfielder compared to the greats of the past and a centre-back whose composure belies his age.

The secret, those inside the academy say, is less about facilities than philosophy — the same positional game taught at every level, so that the jump to the first team is a change of pace, not of ideas.

• Five academy graduates in the matchday squad for the season's biggest games
• The most teenage minutes in the club's modern history
• A midfield trio assembled entirely from the academy

The style is the identity. The academy is how we keep it alive.