La Masia is a gift that keeps on giving. It is like a bowl that keeps producing endless portions of tasty food, as and when the first-team manager has an issue. Over the past few years, the number of players who have come through the academy and made it into the Barcelona first team is frankly incredible.
One name who is quickly emerging as a fan favorite at Barcelona is Marc Casado. The latest entrant from the reserve team, the 21-year-old has wasted no time establishing that he is right up there in terms of talents who have come through the academy, even if it took him more years than a few others to make the step up.
Casado, very quickly, has established himself as the heartbeat of Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. He makes everyone alongside him play better, taking up defensive responsibilities to allow the likes of Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Dani Olmo, and the other midfielders to thrive.
The former Barça Atlètic captain has shown that hard work and perseverance are always rewarded and in Hansi Flick, the club has a manager who loves to look into La Masia for new talent. Now, as per SPORT, there is one player in the reserve team who is the closest and just one step away from entering the first team dynamics.
The player that the report has mentioned is the one who took over the armband from Marc Casado – Unai Hernandez. A typical diminutive Barcelona midfielder, Unai is technically excellent on the ball and has been mentioned in and around the first-team setup for some time now. It seems like it is only a matter of time before he gets the call from Flick.
Unai has trained with the first team on occasions, which is the first indication that he is close to making the breakthrough.
He is more of a midfielder in the Pedri mold, excellent on the ball, and can dictate the pace of a game. He has the vision to thread a pass through the eye of a needle and is a naturally gifted talent.
Unai seems to be the latest in a long list of talents to be coming through La Masia. It looks like a matter of time before he gets his first-team chance and let’s wait and see how it pans out.