Sergino Dest was already a regular for the United States men’s national team, but this time around he’ll be joined by friend and teammate Konrad de la Fuente. Better yet, Dest gets the call-up on his 20th birthday, stripping him of his title as a teenage sensation.
Dest has already made three appearances for the U.S., all coming in 2019. Konrad, meanwhile, has never been capped by the men’s national team, but has featured for youth teams, including at the U-20 World Cup.
Must like Barcelona, Konrad is getting his chance because youth is getting a chance for the U.S. Selecting from players in Europe (plus Internacional’s Johnny Cardoso in Brazil), USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter has picked a roster with an average age of 21 years, 300 days. Yet, it’s also a squad with nine players taking part in the UEFA Champions League, the highest total in the history of the USMNT.
The Barcelona duo are joined by Valencia’s 17-year-old Yunus Musah, who scored his first professional goal against Getafe last weekend. The England youth international was born in the United States, raised in Italy and England, and is also eligible to play for Ghana. Since these two matches are just friendlies, Musah cannot be cap-tied, so he could still switch his international allegiance. The same goes for Konrad, but there is nothing to indicate that he would leave the program at this point.
The noteworthy thing about these three being selected together is that the USMNT had only seen five total players in La Liga prior to Dest making his Barcelona debut last month. Jumping ahead to today, and it’s three La Liga players (Konrad technically counts because he’s been named to the bench) all called up together. The idea that the U.S. doesn’t really have players pushing through in Spain, as opposed to England and Germany, could be changing.
While it is an official partnership, Barcelona can only give trials to and track Barcelona Residency prospects like every other club. That said, Julian Araujo (LA Galaxy), Bryce Duke (LAFC), and Caden Clark (New York Red Bulls) are all alums of the program and now featuring the MLS. Follow the breadcrumbs and it’s quite obvious that FC Barcelona believes that there is value in having roots in the American market.
But since you come here for the Barcelona talk and not just my international football associations, the call-ups of the three La Liga youths did get me thinking. It may be just a friendly, but the USMNT is going all in on youth, because the young players are the best players. At the moment, FC Barcelona is in a similar transition, but less extreme. Messi is struggling for goals at the moment, but his advanced metrics remind you that he should be starting every match. Marc-Andre ter Stegen isn’t going anywhere, and Miralem Pjanic is seeing his importance increase with every touch.
As for the rest… Fati has been better than Griezmann. Pedri has been as good as Coutinho. Dest has been just as good as Alba and Roberto. I bet Konrad could be doing the same thing that Braithwaite is contributing in limited minutes. Ronald Araujo has looked just as solid in limited time as Pique and Lenglet this season. Trincao hasn’t looked out of place.
We know that youth doesn’t win trophies. Frenkie de Jong’s Ajax a few seasons ago was a bit of a fluke, as was Kylian Mbappe’s Monaco. Those teams don’t do that for multiple seasons, though the main reason for that is the majority of players are sold.
So far this season Koeman isn’t getting results with this veterans. It was always going to feel like a rebuilding year, and the manager is playing a ton of youngsters. So how many youngsters is too many youngsters? We’ve already discussed Riqui Puig at length, but if he’s about to lose the locker room anyway, maybe see how far he can push it. Especially if coronavirus cases continue to rise in Spain and the third division stops playing again while La Liga continues. Barcelona B won’t be getting matches and it may be wise to rotate the first team with more frequency.
Gerard Pique just signed an extension to keep him at the club longer (and reduce his salary of course), but he can retire whenever he likes. Meanwhile, Arnau Comas returned from his loan last season a new player, having so far been Pimienta’s best defender and a standout in some rather lackluster Barca B performances. If Puig isn’t the answer in the double pivot, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to see Ilaix Moriba make his first team debut this season and see if he can raise his level like his friend Fati did.
Conventional wisdom says that surrounding Messi with a bunch of players just out of diapers is a recipe for a nightmare scenario. Realistically, we know that it wouldn’t be the case. If you play Moriba, you play him next to de Jong, Pjanic or Busquets. If Comas starts, you pair him with Lenglet or Pique. Koeman can be commended for playing the kids, but if results are coming anyway, I’d like to see him push the envelope a little bit more.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017.
