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Barcelona: 5 wonderkids who failed to make it with the Catalans

By Bence Bocsak

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 17: Bojan Krkic of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal shortly after coming on as a subsitute during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match between FC Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart at the Camp Nou stadium on March 17, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. Barceloina won the match 4-0. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 17: Bojan Krkic of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal shortly after coming on as a subsitute during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match between FC Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart at the Camp Nou stadium on March 17, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. Barceloina won the match 4-0. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) /
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LEON, SPAIN – OCTOBER 31: Munir El Haddadi of FC Barcelona looks on during the Spanish Copa del Rey match between Cultura Leonesa and FC Barcelona at Estadio Reino de Leon on October 31, 2018 in Leon, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
LEON, SPAIN – OCTOBER 31: Munir El Haddadi of FC Barcelona looks on during the Spanish Copa del Rey match between Cultura Leonesa and FC Barcelona at Estadio Reino de Leon on October 31, 2018 in Leon, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images) /

Barcelona’s famous La Masia is renowned for nurturing some of the best footballers in world football, though it’s not always the case.

The list of footballing superstars who have come through the ranks at Barcelona’s prestigious La Masia youth academy is endless. From Lionel Messi to Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets it is a star-studded line-up that will have most football fans smacking their lips.

While most wonderkids who are hyped from an early age with the Catalan side often make it to the very top, there are some who fail to make it despite showing great promise early on in their fledgling careers.

Here are five La Masia wonderkids who failed to live up to their early career hype and promise.

1. Munir El Haddadi

Position: Striker

Current Club: Sevilla

El Haddadi was seen as one of the brightest prospects at the club when he first emerged in La Masia and made his breakthrough season with the Catalans. The young Spanish forward made an impression during his first UEFA Youth League season in which he scored 11 times for Barcelona’s U19 team in just 10 appearances.

That impressive form warranted El Haddadi a well deserved call up to Barcelona’s first team in the summer of 2014 and Munir did not look out of place to begin with at the Catalans. The Spanish forward started the game and managed to find the back of the net on his debut earning him rave reviews.

At just 18 years of age many people dubbed Munir as the next big thing. He had just become Barcelona’s third youngest goalscorer after fellow failed wonderkid Bojan and the legendary Lionel Messi.

Unfortunately El Haddadi failed to live up to all that promise and he struggled to make the same impact on a regular basis. With Barcelona’s frontline so formidable in Neymar, Suarez and Messi it was almost impossible for the Spanish forward to fight himself into the team.

Two loan spells later at Valencia and Alaves which were both fairly successful but nothing bordering on exceptional, El Haddadi left Barcelona in 2019 on a permanent basis to sign for Sevilla where he has repeated a similar sort of form netting five times in nineteen appearances so far.

All together Munir made 56 appearances for Barcelona’s first team scoring 12 times and giving out 11 assists.

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