Succeed after returning from a loan spell in Barcelona? A bumpy and almost impossible mission

Every La Masia youngster dreams of finding a permanent place in the Barcelona squad. The club from the Catalan capital is renowned for nurturing young talent. But succeeding seems to be a very tough challenge and a mission. Even more so if the player decides to try his luck outside the Camp Nou.

Héctor Bellerín is the latest example of a player who left Barcelona to return after some time away, but failed to take his chance. A similar situation occurred with Adama Traoré. Gerrard Piqué is the only one who managed to succeed in the fight for the starting line-up. After his return from Manchester United, he became a Barcelona legend.

Cesc Fàbregas’ tenure after a great season at Arsenal can hardly be described as a complete success. Other players have played only episodic roles, we are talking about players like Raphinha, Munir or Aleñá. Nowadays, Eric García, Iñaki Peña, but also Nico González or Alex Collado have the chance to reverse this trend.

Hector Bellerin

He was a promising player in the Cadete team when Arsène Wenger brought him to Arsenal and gave him a place at right-back at the age of 18. His performances quickly made him one of the best at his position. Barcelona tried to bring him back several times, but until this season it was impossible.

Thanks to the player’s goodwill and the opportunity to sign him for free, it seemed that his arrival could solve the problem at right-back. He returned home at the age of 27, but after six months, just seven games and less than 500 minutes played, he left for Sporting CP. Bellerín simply wasn’t up to the standard demanded by Barcelona.

Adama Traore

He returned to Camp Nou to help the team in the second phase of last season. He showed great form during the first few weeks and notched up four assists. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a good start to a bad end. In the following games Adam’s level dropped and his role diminished. Barcelona did not exercise their option to buy the player for around 30 million euros, so the Spaniard returned to Wolves, where he also failed to impress with his performances.

Carles Aleñá

Another one of the great talents of the academy who failed to make a career as a Barcelona first team player. He made his debut in the 2016/17 season for Luis Enrique, but had to wait until the first half of 2019 to play regularly. Soon after, however, he went on loan to Betis (second half of the 19/20 season).

Ronald Koeman didn’t bet on him, so he went to Getafe, where he still plays today. At 25 years old, he is an undisputed member of the first team there, although initially the expectations were much higher.

Munir El Haddadi

He made a spectacular breakthrough into the first team at the start of the 2014/15 season when he scored on his debut against Elche at Camp Nou with an assist from Ivan Rakitic. Soon after, he even played for the Spanish national team and the 2015/16 season was a decent one in his performance. But it ended there.

He then went on loan, first to Valencia and then to Deportivo Alavés, before spending the next six months at Barcelona, where he appeared on the pitch eleven times. He has also played for Sevilla and is now Aleño’s teammate at Getafe.

Gerard Deulofeu

He has shone more in the youth teams. There was no stopping him. He had the ability to become a world class player, but in Guardiola’s team it was very difficult to get a place in the squad. He tried his luck at Everton, he also played for Sevilla and AC Milan, but Barcelona retained an option to buy him and did so in 2017 (12 million euros).

His performances at the start of the 2017/18 season were terrible, and he ended up on loan at Watford in the winter window. He has now found his place at Udinese where, when injuries allow, he is showing that he is a player of exceptional ability. At least by the standards of a seventh Serie A team.

Currently in Barcelona’s squad are Eric García and Iñaki Peña, who have spent some time at foreign clubs (Manchester City and Galatasaray), while Nico and Alex (Valencia and Elche) are gaining experience on loan. Unfortunately, their roles with Xavi or their injuries lead them to believe that their road to becoming world class players will be long and bumpy.

Source: FCBarca