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Barcelona teenager Arnau Pradas was in action for the club’s Cadete A side at the weekend and scored the sort of solo goal that former captain Lionel Messi would be proud to net.
Prada, wearing the No. 11 shirt, popped up out wide on the left of the attack and casually dragged the ball past three defenders before nonchalantly slotting past the goalkeeper at the far post.
The goal came during a 6-0 win for the Cadete A youth team against Manresa. Barca showed off the very special strike on the club’s Twitter account.
🤩 El Cadet A 🆚 Manresa d’aquest cap de setmana ens ha deixat aquest golàs d’Arnau Pradas
😍 Golazo de Arnau Pradas en el partido del Cadete A
😱 What a goal
#FCBMasia 💙❤️
Pradas is a talented winger and yet another gem at Barca’s famous La Masia academy. The attacker, and highly-rated teammates such as Ilias Akhomach and Lamine Yamal, are already being tipped to follow the likes of Gavi and Ansu Fati into the first team at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona writer Piotr Guziński has highlighted on Twitter why Pradas is such an exciting talent and what fans can expect from the 17-year-old starlet.
Arnau Pradas in the last Cadete A game: a goal, a beautiful assist and he was close to golazo. Excellent technique, balance, dribbling and agility. Unpredictable, intelligent & elegant. One of the greatest talents in La Masia.
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Barcelona Banking on La Masia
Barcelona’s financial problems have been well documented and have meant the club were unable to make big-name signings last summer and may struggle to compete in the transfer market with Europe’s top sides for the time being.
However, the club’s difficulties have allowed youngsters to flourish at the Camp Nou. Teenagers Gavi and Nico Gonzalez have been allowed first-team chances this season and have joined La Masia graduates Ansu Fati and Oscar Mingueza in the senior side.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said that trusting in the club’s academy is the way the club can recover from the current economic crisis and enjoy success once again, as reported by Marca.
“La Masia is the way [forward] and our style of play is essential,” he said. “That genuine and recognisable style, that no other team in the world has, if we can make that compatible with high-performance sporting techniques, we’ll be on another level. Like that we’ll be unbeatable.”
Youngsters ‘Can Put Barça Back Where It Deserves To Be’
Barcelona CEO Ferran Reverter has also said the club must rely on its young players after revealing at a new conference the club was “technically bankrupt,” as reported by the Associated Press.
He said, “The new board of directors and its new executive structure encountered an economic and financial situation marked by negative equity and in a situation of technical bankruptcy.”
Reverter explained that Barca must keep on trusting in La Masia to continue producing talented youngsters. He added, “If we keep doing that, we can put Barça back where it deserves to be.”
Barca recently showed off the depth of homegrown talent Koeman currently has to call upon this season in an epic photograph on Twitter.
👶 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 🥰
There’s no doubt it’s been a tough start to the season for Barca, with just three wins in all competitions, and after a chaotic summer of continuing financial problems that saw Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann depart.
Yet the talent in and around the first team hints at a brighter future for the club, and the Catalan giants will be hoping talents such as Pradas can go on and follow in the footsteps of homegrown stars such as Messi, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta.
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