Ernesto Valverde's chosen Barcelona youngsters for pre-season

Ernesto Valverde has started to take his first decisions as coach of FC Barcelona. The Ant arrived with a clear objective — the cantera needs to regain protagonism when it comes to the first team. For that, Valverde has chosen six B team players to join up with the first team for pre-season. The six are: Carles Aleñá, Marlon Santos, Marc Cucurella, Adrià Ortolà, Sergi Palencia and the Brazilian Vitinho, whose arrival is not official but will be in the coming days.

Carlos Alena is one of the players destined to mark an era. At Barcelona since he was little, the Catalan renewed his contract last week, adding three years to his deal which was set to expire in 2018. The idea is that he plays a key role for Barcelona B and comes up to add to the first team, when they need it.  The same is planned with Ortola. After his loan to Alaves, the stopper will be a starter for Gerard Lopez’s side but train with the first team during the week.

The most recent player to renew in the B team was Marc Cucurella. The left-back penned a new deal on Friday to stay for two more years. He has a release clause of 12 million euros in the next two seasons and then 40 for the two after that. The club have bet on him and see a future for him in the first team after an excellent season with the B team.

On the other side is Sergi Palencia. The B Team captain is also poised to renew his deal. He will have the same role as Cucurella. A key part of Barcelona B and an option for the first team. After a year in which Luis Enrique did not need him, Valverde will bring some light of hope to a youth product who needs the confidence of his coach. As shown under Guardiola, if you trust i the youth team they will let you down on few occasions.

The other two chosen are Marlon and Vitinho. The former finished in fine fettle at the end of Barcelona B’s season, a very mature attitude and always alert in central defence. Vitinho will be a signing for Gerard Lopez’s side. Able to play in attacking midfield, he can make the difference and entertain. Those who have seen him a lot say he can dribble like Neymar did when he was in Brazil.

These six men will start pre-season on July 12 with Valverde. The Ant will evaluate them first-hand and if they do well, will come on the tour of the United States. Through the season others from Barcelona B will also be given chances to train with the first team.

After tough times under Luis Enrique, the cantera is breathing optimistically again, and the hopes of recovering the essence of the Tito Vilanova side in which all 11 players came through the youth system are higher again. If the cantera gets more protagonism, the future will be Blaugrana once more.