Lionel Messi is one of the best Barca players to ever grow up from the famous La Masia youth academy.
In 1979, Barca decided to set up a youth training academy as a source of additional players for the first team and instill the club’s football philosophy. The academy is named La Masia, in Spanish it means to farm.
After more than 40 years of development, La Masia has produced a series of talented players, successful in both Barca and many other big clubs in Europe. Recently, Sun Sport has held a list of 25 most talented players ever produced from La Masia.
Lionel Messi ranked first with great achievements in 16 years with the first team. He holds the record for Barca with 638 goals and is also aiming to record the most playing field for Barca belongs to Xavi Hernandez.
The pair Xavi – Iniesta respectively ranked in the next position with nearly 20 years of dedication to the home team and reaped countless La Liga titles and the C1 Cup. When they were together, the two players were rated by experts as one of the greatest central midfield pairs in history.
Ranked in fourth place is center-back Carles Puyol, symbolizing the certainty of the Barca defense in the previous period. Former captain Pep Guardiola ranked 5th on this list when playing a key role in Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team. The legendary Dutch strategist once rated Guardiola as one of the best midfielders in the world of his generation.
The remaining places in the Top 10 best talents voted by Sun Sport are Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Mauro Icardi and Pedro. In particular, Busquets, Pique and Pedro all achieved success with Barca, while Fabregas and Icardi mostly shined after leaving Barca to play more.
Top 25 talents of the best La Masia oven history
| Football player | Location | Time to play for Barca (years) | Current club |
| Lionel Messi | Striker | 16 | Barca |
| Xavi Hernandez | Midfielder | 17 | Retired |
| Andres Iniesta | Midfielder | 16 | Vissel Kobe |
| Carles Puyol | central defender | 15 | Retired |
| Pep Guardiola | Midfielder | 11 | Retired |
| Cesc Fabregas | Midfielder | 3 | Monaco |
| Sergio Busquets | Midfielder | 12 | Barca |
| Gerard Pique | central defender | 12 | Barca |
| Mauro Icardi | Striker | 3 (youth team) | PSG |
| Pedro | Striker | 7 | Chelsea |
| Victor Valdes | Goalie | 12 | Retired |
| Mikel Arteta | Midfielder | 5 (youth team) | Retired |
| Adama Traore | Midfielder | 2 | Wolves |
| Ivan de la Pena | Midfielder | 4 | Retired |
| Thiago Motta | Midfielder | 6 | Retired |
| Sergi Barjuan | Defender | 9 | Retired |
| Hector Bellerin | Defender | 8 (youth team) | Arsenal |
| Guillermo Amor | Midfielder | ten | Retired |
| Pepe Reina | Goalie | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Albert Ferrer | Defender | 8 | Retired |
| Andre Onana | Goalie | 5 (youth team) | Ajax |
| Luis Garcia | Midfielder | 1 | Retired |
| Nayim | Midfielder | 1 | Retired |
| Dani Olmo | Midfielder | 7 (youth team) | RB Leipzig |
| Alex Grimaldo | Defender | 7 (youth team) | Benfica |