When Joan Laporta took over, every Culé knew that he was inheriting a financial mess. One which would involve major changes for the first team and the club as a whole. Yet, while plenty of free agents have been brought in and a few fringe players have found new homes, the sheer amount of money at the top makes all player movement very complicated. Meanwhile, after a positive campaign last season under Francisco Garcia Pimiena, Barça B was expected to be a model of continuity. That has not been the case.
Last month, Garcia Pimienta, the man who guided the B team to consecutive promotion play-offs down in the third division, was replaced by Sergi Barjuan. Barjuan managed the Juvenil B from 2009 to 2011 before bouncing around managerial roles at Recreativo Huevla, Almeria, and Mallorca for the next few years. His last stop was at ZJ Greentown in China’s second division, a league that is probably a step below the new Primera RFEF in Spain. This is his “biggest” job in some time.
Changing the man at the top is enough shake-up for one summer, but as is the case with Barcelona B every season, high turnover is always expected. Between promotions to the first team, contracts ending and players looking for first team football, and even younger players taking that step up from the academy, Barça B is in flux every season.
While this offseason has been no different, the new recruits indicate that something has changed behind the scenes. Last year’s three most influential attackers, Álex Collado, Rey Manaj, and Konrad de la Fuente, should all be gone, and for different reasons. Konrad was sold to Marseille, Collado will likely be promoted to the first team, and Manaj is reportedly looking for his next challenge. That means that Barça B needs to replace 28 of the 40 goals the team scored last season. Add the goals from Jandro Orellana, Oriol Busquets, and Ilaix Moriba, all of whom could be leaving the club due to contract situations, and Barjuan has only 9 returning goals from last season.
Of last year’s squad, 18-year-old Gerard Fernández should continue to be an important part of the attack in his third season with the B team and improve upon his four goals from last season. For all the doom and gloom in replacing players, it is a credit to Jose Alexanco and the men in the boardrooms that they struck so quickly on a number of new attackers.
The two big-name acquisitions are midfielders who are probably too good for the third division of Spain and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them in the first team dynamic for much of the year. For more on Yusuf Demir and Kays Ruiz-Atil, check out the recent La Masia update from YouTube (the one additional update since is the renewal of Alejandro Balde):
Aside from Demir and Ruiz-Atil, who can play in the middle and on the wing, the Barça B attack will also feature Ferrán Jutglà and Jordi Escobar.
Jutglà comes on a free from Espanyol B, having played in Espanyol’s academy his entire career with the exception of a loan to Sant Andreu in 2018. He’s usually a right winger, but the 22-year-old can also play on the left or at right-back. He scored just 5 goals and added 2 assists in 28 matches last season in the third division, but the former Espanyol B captain was likely added for his versatility and leadership.
19-year-old Jordi Escobar is a bit different, being more of an unknown commodity. He’s a proper forward, and with 6 goals between the Spain U-17s and U-18s, so it’s not crazy to begin thinking of Abel Ruiz when discussing a 19-year-old centre-forward playing for the B team. Escobar spent time in La Masia and Espanyol’s academies before jumping to Valencia in 2016. He spent one year with Valencia B before UD Almería snapped him up for 2.75 million euros last October.
He made two appearances for Almería’s first team last season, both in the Copa del Rey, and provided an assist in a 2-1 win over Numancia in the second round. The rest of his season was spent with Almería B, where things could have gone better. With a buy option on the loan, Barça are in a good position to strike if the young Catalan finds a way to contribute major goals this season.
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
