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Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona: Comparing the 2 Sides' Youth Systems

Jason Pettigrove@@jaypetti1971X.com LogoContributor IFebruary 6, 2015

Lionel Messi, Iker Muniain and Xavi Hernandez. Three high-profile academy graduates from Barcelona and Athletic Club.
Lionel Messi, Iker Muniain and Xavi Hernandez. Three high-profile academy graduates from Barcelona and Athletic Club.Angel Martinez/Getty Images

Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao both have a very interesting take on their youth policies.

La Masia has been a successful model for years now, due in no small part to Johan Cryuff's vision of having all Barcelona sides, right from the youngest age group upwards, playing in the same style as the first team.

It breeds a familiarity in-play that is second nature to Barca's academy exponents by the time they reach the senior levels of the club.

By employing only those born in the local area, Athletic's unique "Basque only" policy means the club can be assured of having a squad brimming with players full of pride at pulling on the shirt.

When you consider that Athletic are the only club other than Barcelona and Real Madrid never to have been relegated from La Liga, it makes their own policy even more remarkable.

Athletic Bilbao's Basque-only policy continues to pay dividends.
Athletic Bilbao's Basque-only policy continues to pay dividends.Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press/Associated Press

Athletic are also, along with Barca, Real and Osasuna, the only teams in the league not to be owned by a sports corporation. Owned and operated by socio members, the loyal support simply wouldn't allow for the elected board to change the ethos of the club.

Nathen Amin even details that:

To select only players who are connected ethnically, linguistically and culturally with the fans ensures the club will always have a unique relationship with the terraces and one popular quote is that the vast majority of the Socio’s will happily accept relegation for the first time in history if it meant keeping the policy intact. 

And why would they want to change anyway, so successful have they been at producing players over the years.

Lezama, a small town in the Biscay region of the Basque country, houses Athletic's top-of-the-range academy facilities.

They provide elite-level surroundings that are a perfect accompaniment to a professional training regime.

A regime that has seen a number of quality exponents graduate through their system, one of the most recent being Iker Muniain, a youngster who epitomised everything that the club stand for.

Bursting onto the scene at just 16 years of age and scoring a week later, Muniain's early performances were underscored by hard work and no little skill. A moniker of "the Spanish Messi" was a nod to just how influential he was in a young Bilbao side.

As Tom Conn of Inside Spanish Football noted in their list of top 50 Spanish youngsters, Muniain's personal success "comes down to the success and management of Athletic."

A management and policy which will continue to hold this most traditional of Spanish league clubs in good stead for the future.

The outstanding Aymeric Laporte is just one other from an outstanding production line.

Barcelona's academy needs no introduction. It's astonishing to think that the triple talents of Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi have cost the club absolutely nothing other than time, during their tenure at La Masia.

Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets are other notable graduates.

Having also now moved to elite-level training facilities and away from their traditional pitch attached to Camp Nou, Barca can now assess and strategise the development of their youngsters behind closed doors.

The next-generation Blaugrana are already making waves in Spain's second division, the Liga Adelante or Segunda if you prefer.

Future first-teamers such as Alejandro Grimaldo will find their integration to the top level as seamless as it could possibly be, thanks to that Cruyff directive.

No nonsense, no diversion, no trying to do things a bit different. The blueprint for how the Blaugrana are to play is drilled into staff from the earliest age.

How refreshing in this day and age to see two such high-profile and high-end clubs sticking to their principles.