Barcelona's Young Talent Grows Rapidly Under Hansi Flick's Orphanage

Pedri said Hansi Flick made Barcelona confident (Instagram/@pedri).

JAKARTA - Barcelona midfielder Pedri praised coach Hansi Flick for giving young players the confidence needed to develop.

Barca have the youngest team in La Liga, with an average age of 23.6 years.

"This is very important. The trust the coach gives to all the young players who are on the rise, they give back with a good game."

"This allows them to gain confidence and have more freedom to dare to try things," Pedri told ESPN about Flick's commitment to fostering local talent.

Flick fielded six players from a young academy in a 4-1 home win against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

In addition, the German coach fielded six young players when they beat Real Madrid 4-0 at El Clasico on Sunday, October 27, 2024, early morning WIB.

Four of them are still 21 years old and the remaining two are even 17 years old.

"We see a lot of players leaving La Masia (Barca Academy) and that is the soul of this club," said Pedri.

Furthermore, Pedri also strongly believes in Flick's tactics which so far have made Azulgrana perform brilliantly.

"Most importantly, he has a very clear idea. I think the defense that progresses is very characteristic of us in all matches."

"He has passed on to us the belief that we can do it and believe in ourselves," said the Spaniard.

Meanwhile, Dani Olmo, who returned to Barca from Leipzig this summer, is delighted to see academy players have the opportunity.

As a young product of Azulgrana, Olmo joined Dinamo Zagreb when he was 16 years old.

"This is extraordinary. Barcelona is the best academy in the world. La Masia has shown this for years."

"So, we celebrate now, have a lot of players growing up in La Masia in the first team. That motivates all players who come up to continue working because they can get a chance," said Olmo.

Not only Olmo, a Polish veteran goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, who returned from retirement to join Barca earlier this month following his injury Marc-Andre ter Stegen, also admitted that having so many young players on the team took time to get used to.

Even so, Szczesny said that a row of talented young players was the reason he postponed his retirement.

"I have to say, this is strange. Some of these players may have never seen me play for Arsenal and I feel like that hasn't happened long ago."

"However, that is the main reason why I decided to come because I thought I could give something for this team."

"So you try to talk as an experienced player to those young people and help them understand maybe the right time to press, the right time to maybe go down a little bit," said Szczesny.

Furthermore, the 34-year-old goalkeeper was also impressed with the young talents in Barcelona, especially Pau Cubarsi.

Even though he is still 17 years old, the defender is one of the actors who made Barcelona's defense strong.

"(Pau) Cubarsi (17 years old) is an interesting player because he watched it on TV."

"I expect modern defenders who are very good at controlling the ball, but weaker at defense.

"However, when you look at him in person, he's actually quite difficult to fight and he's very strong in a defensive duel."

"So he's one of the most impressive, but you can see all La Masia products and it's all very interesting to the club's future," Szczesny said again.