Former Barcelona defender Laurent Blanc has hailed the club\u2019s La Masia academy and highlighted just how important it is to the Catalan giants.<\/p>\n
La Masia continues to churn out incredible talent at a quite astonishing rate. Lamine Yamal, Gavi and Alejandro Balde are just some of the academy graduates in the first team right now.<\/p>\n
Blanc says that the academy is still the club\u2019s great beating heart and feels Barca could even have disappeared without young stars to rescue them during difficult financial times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has gone through a difficult time, with financial and administrative problems. But what is it that gets Bar\u00e7a out of their difficulty? It\u2019s the young players. That\u2019s why, for me, Bar\u00e7a has always been a great club with a great training centre, La Masia. For me, this is the heart of the club, it is the heart of the club,\u201d he told Sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have La Masia, then Bar\u00e7a wouldn\u2019t have gone ahead. Perhaps it is a club that would have disappeared or fallen. It is the youngsters who have saved the club, the Lamine, Pedri, Gavi… <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many young people who have left and it is a club that is going to move forward, that is already champion of Spain, semi-finals of the Champions League, and about to qualify for the final. And with the young people who are leaving, in my opinion, it will be a great club again.\u201d<\/p>\n