The Cancer That Is Silently Destroying Barcelona Football Club — Catalan Media.
Pep Guardiola often says part of the reason his Barcelona career was short was because of Catalan journalists. He said there are so many small wars everyday in the club. The media wants to have an opinion and Catalan journalists want the club to be run their way.
What I've noticed is that most of these guys who call themselves journalists see Barca as a cash cow. Any local can decide to become a Barcelona journalist in Catalunya as long as they have a connection with someone inside the club. They don't even need to go to school to learn how to become a professional.
People often say Barcelona is always in the media, and the reason is simple: there are so many people who have information about the club. They get leaks easily. They set up cameras at the airport and restaurants all over Catalunya to monitor every step of people working at the club. They make working there so unbearable. There is no other club in the world that has so many local self-acclaimed journalists around it like Barcelona. Everyone wants to have an opinion and wants to make a living reporting Barcelona news.
But how do these guys do it? They do what I call "catch them young." Let me explain: some of these guys gain relevance by collaborating with young La Masia kids and their agents at a very early age. They form a good relationship with them. They push them in the media and talk highly of them. All so that when they get to the first team, they will have a source within the club sharing day-to-day activities and news from inside.
Sometimes these people reach out to players in the team through their agency, form a good relationship with them, and the players start sharing news with them. In return, they become a public defender of the player. They will never criticise such a player no matter how bad he is.
About two weeks ago, De Jong mentioned in an interview that the reason he is hated among Catalan journalists is because he refused to form a relationship with them. He said a lot of players form relationships with these journalists so that they can defend their interests in public. Have you ever asked why Catalan media defended Ter Stegen so much? They like Ter Stegen even more than Messi. It's because he was one of their main sources of news inside the club.
Catalan journalists have turned Barca into a tribalistic club. Any player that is Catalan can't be sold without pushback. They use sentiment instead of logic. The other day, they started a wave of campaigns when they heard the club wanted to sell Casadó. They pushed back against signing Bernardo Silva, saying: "Why would he come and take the place of a La Masia player?"
Is Barcelona a team built for La Masia alone? They saw how Cancelo benched Balde, who is a La Masia player, and they didn't want the same thing to happen again. The management can't even sell these kids easily because of the sentiment and emotion attached to them. Barcelona can't run a club based on emotion. Football is a game of results and profit.
We often say Real Madrid doesn't take its academy seriously. The truth is, Real Madrid have achieved more than Barcelona with their model and are still more financially stable. They run the club ruthlessly and the club management never let locals influence their decisions. Any academy player who is not good enough is immediately sold with terms that allow them to make insane profit. They make a lot of money with their youth academy and they are still winning.
Don't get me wrong: La Masia should be a backbone to Barcelona, but in cases where the player is not good enough, they should be sold before their value plummets, just like Real Madrid do. Only those that have undeniable exceptional qualities, like Lamine Yamal and Cubarsí, should be promoted to the first team. Barcelona should never forget that Johan Cruyff, Ronaldinho, and recently Lewandowski did not come from La Masia. Logic over emotion.
@alexmostoles Pero si del atleti al Barça solo han ido griezman arda y Joao Félix en los últimos 10 años y fueron 3 timos. Al atleti fueron Suárez y villa y dos ligas. De q historia hablas.
@pinpinespa19312@MontoroAtl@Miguel04164366 1- la primera oferta no es la última. Si el punto de partida es 100 kilos puedes llegar a 160 con variables en la negociación.
2- se vaya o se quede ya has perdido a tu estrella y sinceramente como delantero Julián no es una estrella de primer nivel.
@MontoroAtl@Miguel04164366 Yo creo q es Julián el primero q quiere ir a la grada. Tomar decisiones en un negocio basado en sentimientos es un error de primero de gestión de empresas. La decisión buena era sangrar al Barcelona y reforzarte. Julián no es tan bueno como para marcar el futuro del Barcelona.
@lxomessismofcb2 Alguien de fuera tiene q demostrar mucho para llegar al equipo. Los jugadores de la cantera tienen el privilegio de poder debutar en el primer equipo y tener la simpatía de la afición. Pero tienen q ser conscientes q deben demostrar ser los mejores y no todos son conscientes.