Partly through circumstance and partly because of his own philosophy, Xavi has given a huge number of debuts to La Masia players, and has used a lot of them extremely regularly as first team players.
One player who is getting a taste of that this season is Fermin Lopez, wh who returned from a really impressive loan at Linares last season, trained with the squad in preseason, and is now starting to get first team minutes.
Mundo Deportivo are today predicting that left back Alex Valle could be the next man up. He’s on loan at Levante and looking great, and Xavi is apparently keeping a close eye on him. He’s started 9 of 9 for the Valencian team as they push for a return to La Liga.
Fellow academy graduate Alejandro Balde has made the first team left back spot his own, but the club can now countenance letting Marcos Alonso walk for free when his contract expires next summer, knowing they’ve got a replacement developing nicely.
