Standing, leaning on the metal railing, Oriol Tort greeted the journalists leaving after watching the first team's training at Barcelona. There was no sports city, and the youth of Barcelona usually trained on the dirt fields located within the Camp Nou grounds. With a cigarette in hand, he could be mistaken for the groundskeeper, but he was actually the talent scout. Discreet but ironic, he liked to stay away from the limelight and noise, although he left witty remarks in some conversations: "If we do our job well, one of these youths could play there, in the first team, without you noticing the difference." "But we have to do it well...," he insisted, with a half-smile. Time has improved the judgment of good old Tort, with Lamine Yamal, 17, and Pau Cubarsí, who just turned 18, two youths, established in Hansi Flick's Barça and in Luis de la Fuente's national team. He was wrong about something: the difference is noticeable.
Tort arrived at Barcelona in 1959 as a youth coach before La Masía existed, and from 1980 until his death in 1999, he was the director of Barcelona's youth academy. Forty years at the club, more than half of his life. He roamed the fields of Catalonia because he believed that watching children play in their environment was necessary to discover potential talents. Guardiola, Sergi, Amor,Iván de la Peña, Pujol, or Xavi were some of those he recruited for the club, although he liked to downplay his work: "We are not discoverers, we only help players discover themselves."
Recruitment was, therefore, the key magical moment, according to Tort, where one had to observe the small details that could make a player special. In Jordi Roura, he saw an electric overflow when he played in his town, Llagostera, in Girona. La Masía was his destination, where he coincided and befriended Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, and Aureli Altimira, who ended up forming the 'Els golafres' group, the gluttons. The overflow took him to the first team, Johan Cruyff's nascent 'Dream Team,' but a serious injury during the UEFA Super Cup against Milan in 1989 ended his career. At 25, he was retired and starting his journey as a coach. From being Carles Rexach's assistant in Japan to Guardiola's assistant in the first team, Vilanova's second, and finally, interim coach after his friend's tragic death. With Tata Martino's arrival at the helm, the club then led by Josep Maria Bartomeu appointed him director of youth football in 2014. He was in the place of his discoverer, where he would become the father of the new generation, the 'Quinta de Lamine.'
"When I signed him, he was seven years old. We went to see him, and the first thing I thought was, 'This kid runs strangely.' At that age, everyone chases the ball; it's hard to see things, you have to capture the details. Everyone except Lamine, who stood out, didn't go for the ball. It was as if he wanted to break free, like a professional. He did strange things. It caught my attention. Then he made a different move from the others, and I said to Aureli, 'We're signing him,'" explains Roura in a conversation with this newspaper. Altimira, one of his inseparables since the Masía days and a trusted person, shared the recruitment sessions with Roura and other coaches.
"They are the cornerstone of this work. We weren't looking for physical conditions or anything like that, just talent, the things that can make a player different and that at that age you can already observe because they are innate. Everything else, the physical and tactical work, we will add later," he continues, as if he were still living it because "this is a profession, a job, but it is also passion."
Roura no longer does that job because Joan Laporta's return caused a change in the technical structure. "We were renewed, but suddenly we were out. I can understand that a new president puts in his own people, trusted ones, but I think the way it was done was wrong; it could have been done differently," he recalls, though without giving it more importance. Along with Roura, Altimira, García Pimienta, coach of the reserve team, and Carles Folguera, La Masía's director for over 20 years, also left. A year later, the club saw the departure of sporting director Ramon Planes, a key figure in the signings of Pedri and Araujo.
In addition to Deco and Bojan Krkic, Laporta appointed Alexanko as the academy director, always in line with Cruyff and later Laporta. However, he promoted and protected two essential figures in the lower categories' structure, Sergi Milà and Marc Serra. A way of doing politics and favoritism, but without losing the method. Together, they have over 30 years at the club. Milà is responsible for the methodology of grassroots football and the coordinator of 11-a-side football. Responsibility has kept him away from the benches after coaching the U19 team, and some at the Ciutat Esportiva wonder if the career of a great coach has been cut short. Serra, on the other hand, is the coordinator of 7-a-side football, the trial-and-error football that everyone, Roura first and foremost, considers essential to Barcelona's youth academy success. "Lamine, Cubarsí, Bernal, or Gavi come from 7-a-side football," he recalls. The first three won the 2019 Liga Promises in New York, beating Real Madrid 6-1.
"7-a-side football is more interactive, promotes association, involves more ball touches, and allows us to start working on understanding the game. We want them to position themselves to receive, to anticipate in their minds the pass they will make before the ball reaches them, to be mentally quick. Modern football is about speed, but not just in legs," Roura continues, highlighting Serra's work. Barcelona politely declined this newspaper's offer for Serra and Milá to share their insights on their work.
Unlike other times when Barça created midfielders who seemed cloned, an endogamy that raised internal concerns, Roura's generation has it all: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards. "Of course... When I hear about the Barça DNA, I wonder: What does this mean? That we can't counterattack? That we can't play long balls when pressed high? Barça has its identity associated with technique and possession, but to win, you have to be direct. Flick has understood this well," insists the coach. Some of the fruits of his work are yet to come, like Toni Fernández, 16, a forward with powerful dribbling, who shares the youth ranks with his cousin Guille. The reserve team's goalkeeper, American Diego Kochen.
"A good example is Cubarsí, a center-back who is direct and breaks lines with his passes - Roura continues -. The position is very challenging at Barcelona because if you have space behind you and have to start the play, it's almost nothing. I signed him at 10, from Girona. He was aggressive, with character. His tactical progress upon joining us was impressive. He looks like a kid, but he's tough, with a bad attitude. Sometimes I would say to him, 'Pau, smile a bit, this is just football.'"
"Bucket, you have to tighten"
Traveling through the fields was Roura's daily routine, just as it was for Tort before. "In scouting, you have to be quick. See, decide, and sign, all in the moment. If not, another club will come and do it." It happened to him with Marc Casadó. "He was in the Damm team, one of the best in training. He was 13 years old and caught my attention for his positioning, always going to cover. However, I never thought he would reach the physical level he has now, amazing." With Alejandro Balde, on the other hand, he had to insist on making that leap. "He played for San Gabriel, and we brought him in very young for 7-a-side football. He was technical, skillful, but one day I called him and said, 'Playing well is not enough, you have to tighten up'."
"The method is common, but each boy needs their own time and circumstances. Lamine lived in Mataró, he could have stayed at home, but since the neighborhood environment could be complicated, we took him to La Masía," Roura continues. More protection was needed for Fermín, whom he decided to sign after watching an under-12 tournament in Tarragona. "He played for Betis, and as soon as I saw him, I realized he had potential, but also a problem: he was very small. However, I said to myself, 'Doesn't matter, we sign him.' Time passed, and he didn't grow, he didn't stand out. Doubts grew among the coaches and even his family, who considered whether he should go back home. I asked everyone for a little more time, I had that intuition. Finally, he made the leap I was hoping for," Roura recalls, emphasizing that each player needs their own time. "Personalized treatment is necessary, it's another secret," he clarifies.
While now trying to transfer all that knowledge to young coaches through the 'Best Version 1' project, Roura says he is "proud" of the work done. "From there - he concludes - everything depends on whether the head coach gives them the opportunity. Koeman, Xavi, and Flick have done it. In that aspect, Barça is also distinctive." Distinctive and, in one of the most challenging periods in its history, also a test of life.