The '95 generation: The incomplete dream of Barça's last special youth team

"The generation of '95 will be the future of the first team". This quote is less than two years old, and came from within the club (Eusebio said it, then Barça B manager). It reflected the feeling of many regarding that gifted group of youngsters.

It was the year 2010, and Samper, Toral, Bellerin, Grimaldo, Keita Balde and company were tearing things up on the pitches of Catalunya.

"It was one of those generations that combined individual quality and daily work. And if there was anything slightly negative, it calmed with the departure of Keita Balde, who had his own way of acting. It was a hard-working, disciplined group. Plenty of raw material individually and it was widely thought that two or three of them would reach the first team. It is a similar case to the '91 generation with Thiago, Bartra, Assulin, Tello..." those inside the club recall.

Neither Dongou nor Munir were in that cadet group, Dongou was already playing with the higher Juvenile B team and Munir would only arrive the following season. Both also born in 1995. Keita Balde was there for a few months, before first being loaned to Cornella and then leaving for good for disciplinary problems.

The current Lazio forward was one of the few problematic elements of a very united group of players, whose spine had been together since the Alevin B age group.

Before they joined the Cadet A level, Sergi Domenech explained to the club media in 2010: "They are exemplary kids, and I think we are witnessing the best Barça youth generation since the group containing Pique, Cesc and Messi. I have never had a group like this, containing all the ideal qualities to be at Barça".

Arsene Wenger also took notice. He wanted three of the players for Arsenal. First option was Jon Toral, but he also wanted Sergi Samper and Hector Bellerin.

It was not hard to convince Toral. He said: "I would have liked to have reached the Barça first team, but my dream was the Premier League. I always told my family I wanted to play in England. I wantched many of their games on TV." The fact Toral's mother was English assisted in Wenger's efforts.

There was no way of getting Samper from Barça, he is a militant "cule" (Barça fan), whereas the agreement to get Bellerin came at the last minute.

At that time, Barcelona's priority was to keep hold of Samper. "Roger Riera was the voice leading the dressing room, but Samper was the leader on the pitch. You could see he clearly had the profile of a first teamer", club sources remember.

Toral was likened to Sergi Roberto's style, whereas very few thought Bellerin could go on to become a key Arsenal player. "He was a good full-back and very quick, but there were others in the youth teams who were believed to be of similar quality", says a source.

Ondoa (now at Nastic Tarragona) shared goalkeeping duties with Balleste. Godswill was the utility player of the team, deployed at right-back and midfield. Bellerin mostly played right-wing.

The usual first choice for that age group was Pol Balleste (now at Cadiz), Marc Navarro (Espanyol B), Riera (Celta B), Pol Garcia (Juventus, on loan at Crotone), Grimaldo (Benfica), Samper (Barça), Simon Colina (Partick Thistle), Toral (Arsenal), Bellerin (Arsenal), Sandro (Barça), Ivan Romano (Montanesa).

For the '95 generation, the dream was cut short for the majority. Munir and Samper are the last remains within the club of a group that seemed to be destined for excellency with the first team.

"This is Barça. In another club, most of those players would form the spine of the first team", recall some of the coaches asked, conscious of the difficulty of the selection process at FC Barcelona.