Leaving Barcelona for foreign shores doesn't always pay off

In the last few years many players have left FC Barcelona's youth teams to sign for other clubs - the majority of these have been foreign sides. It's true that on occasion the players haven't had much choice, as it's been Barcelona that wanted to dispense of their services. But there have also been many cases of players who could have a big future at Barcelona deciding to head abroad.

Of those who have gone of their own volition, there are those who felt attracted to a particular league, who simply wanted to try football in other countries, and, why not, make a quick buck. These were some of the reasons and in some cases nothing as gone wrong. In this section we could include Mauro Icardi, Hector Bellerin, as a couple of examples, as well as Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas, who returned.

But that would only be the friendly face of the matter. we must also look to those who left with a suitcase full of dreams and had to return without seeing them come true. And recently we have two examples of these. One is Ignasi Miquel, who went to England to try his luck and is now back at Ponferradina in the Spanish second division. The other is Jon Toral, who moved from Arsenal to Birmingham on loan, although he is still 20 and may yet achieve his dream.

Clearly, leaving home doesn't guarantee you success. That must have been what Inaki Pena thought. The promising FC Barcelona goalkeeper had an offer from Manchester United. If it was purely about money, he would have gone without hesitation. But we have seen that Barcelona has put faith in him. He's still at the club and this season will play for Juvenil A. Barcelona's have confidence in him and he knows that he will have a great future here. The grass isn't always greener.