9 forgotten Barcelona academy graduates who became cult heroes elsewhere
Barcelona have produced plenty of world-class players over the years, although not all of them make the grade at Camp Nou.
For every Lionel Messi or Lamine Yamal, there are countless examples of other Barca academy graduates who forge a career for themselves elsewhere.
We’ve looked through the players Barcelona have produced in the past and have found nine of them who became cult heroes elsewhere.
Mikel Arteta
Current Arsenal boss Arteta spent five years at La Masia, playing for the Barca C and Barca B, but never getting a first-team runout.
He moved on to PSG, before excelling on the British Isles with Rangers, Everton and Arsenal.
“I was living in La Masia, it was bedroom of eight and I had Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol, all in that bedroom,” Arteta said in 2019.
“What I learned at La Masia was that internally there was competition, as we all had the same aim, to be first-team players, and we could not all of us get there, so it was internal competition.
“But what I learned as well that within that competition you really have to understand that you have to look after each other.”
Mauro Icardi
Before moving to PSG and becoming more of a celebrity than an actual footballer, Icardi was one of the most lethal striker in Serie A, scoring 124 goals in 219 games for Internazionale.
He’s possibly the least Barcelona forward we can imagine.
Icardi rarely did much work off the ball or outside the penalty box when his team was in possession, preferring to wait for chances to pounce on in the six-yard box.
Still, he was at Barca for three years after moving from his native Rosario in Argentina to Catalonia as a teenager.
Nowadays, he’s applying all that La Masia knowledge to the Turkish Super Lig, leading the line for Galatasaray.
Pepe Reina
Reina actually played 30 games for Barca, by far the most of anyone on this list.
But we still find it even harder to picture him with the Barca badge on his chest than we do to imagine him with hair. Remarkably, both things occurred concurrently.
After leaving Camp Nou, the goalkeeper became a hero at Liverpool and enjoyed productive spells with Villarreal and Napoli too.
Andre Onana
The path between Barcelona and Ajax is well-trodden, but it’s usually in the direction from the Netherlands to Catalonia.
Onana did the opposite, moving to the Amsterdam club in 2015 after five years in the Barcelona youth ranks.
Forget his later inconsistencies at Manchester United, the Cameroon goalkeeper was sensational for Ajax, helping the club to win five major trophies as well as reaching a Europa League final and Champions League semi.
Marc Cucurella
Cucrella spent eight years on the books at Barca, playing for the youth teams and Barca B and making a single senior appearance as a sub for Lucas Digne in the Copa del Rey.
Given his football education, though, it was little wonder he excelled in the Premier League with Brighton following spells with Eibar and Getafe.
The attacking instincts and ball control he learned at La Masia certainly stood him in good stead for Graham Potter’s slick Seagulls side.
Cucurella struggled at Chelsea after his £63million move in 2022, but has since grown into life at Stamford Bridge and is loved by the Chelsea fans for his commitment and never-say-die attitude.
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Takefusa Kubo
Kubo spent four years in the Barcelona academy, but never made a senior appearance for the club.
The Japanese winger made his senior debut with FC Tokyo before then returning to Europe and signing for Real Madrid.
Now on the books at Real Sociedad, Kubo has been putting in some stellar performances and is attracting interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester United.
Alex Grimaldo
A former staple of those pesky transfer gossip columns, Grimaldo developed into a fine attacking left-back at Benfica before shining at Bayer Leverkusen.
But it was not at the famed Benfica academy where he cut his teeth.
Grimaldo came through La Masia, spending eight seasons with the club, four in the youth teams and four playing for Barca B in the Spanish lower leagues.
Another one who’s been linked with a move back to Barca, and nobody would have been that surprised if it had actually happened.
Nayim…
… from the half-way line.
Yeah, him. The very same. Spent almost a decade at Barca as a youngster. Even made seven senior appearances.
Best remembered on English shores as a Tottenham hero – more for the outrageous goal he scored against Arsenal while playing for Zaragoza in the 1995 Cup Winners’ Cup final than what he did at the Lane though.
Manu Trigueros
An absolute legend at Villarreal, where he played well over 477 games, Trigueros spent a single season with the Barcelona Under-18s in 2007-08.
He barely got in the team and moved on to Murcia before signing with Villarreal – initially playing for the C team.
He then established himself as one of the most reliable midfielders in La Liga, helping Villarreal win the Europa League in 2021, and was even linked with a move back to Barca that same year.