Three rookies in quick succession! Harvey + Deco, La Masia revival in sight?
Reporter Han Bing reported After Ferming and Yamal shined, this time it was Mark Gizu's turn. The 17-year-old high school striker had played only one game for Barca's B team before being promoted to the first team by Xavi due to Lewandowski's suspension. The No. 39 rookie, who never thought that the 1.87-meter-tall rookie became famous with only two touches and 23 seconds, becoming La Masia's latest "explosive" genius.
In the 10th round of La Liga, Barça beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at home. Giu came off the bench in the 80th minute and received a one-handed goal from Felix 23 seconds later. His goal was very similar to that scored by Villa in the November 2010 national derby, and after the goal he imitated Villa's celebratory gesture, becoming a "phenomenal" picture on Spanish social media. After the match, the shy Giu was nervous in an interview with Villa, who is a DAZN commentator, and finally got the opportunity to take a photo with the idol.
In just 24 hours, Giv's INS followers have surged 10-fold, and Barça are racing against the clock, registering him in the Champions League B squad by midnight local time on Tuesday night. What awaits Giu will be his true Champions League debut. This season, Xavi has launched three rookies in succession: Ferming, Yamal and Guiu, focusing on reviving La Masia's glory.
Reviving La Masia is not only Xavi's ideal, but also the strategic plan of Barca's new sporting director, Deco. Giu is Deco's latest visionary, having put him on the scouting list before he became sporting director. Deco has watched Giw's Under-19 Youth Champions League matches several times and sees him as a key promotion candidate. Giu played with Spain in the Hungarian Under-17 European Championship this summer, scoring four goals each with Amal to lead the team to the last four. Not only was he promoted in the poster C position by the Spanish football team, but he was also named one of the 60 most promising U17 players by the British newspaper "The Guardian".
Guiu has been trained in La Masia for 10 years and made his first-team debut this summer in Barca's warm-up match against Kobe Victory, but it was this lightning goal that made him an overnight success. Deco admired Giu very much, considering him a rare No. 9 big center in La Masia.
As a big centre-forward, Giu may not be the typical technical goalscorer of La Masia, but he is tall, practical and effective, and his other idol is Ibrahimovic, and Deco believes he is closer to Icardi's style. Barca have always lacked such a big centre that would increase their attacking diversity, and Ibrahimovic was unsuccessful at Barca, but Haaland's success at Manchester City offers the possibility of Gio's future at Barca. Although he will not be able to play for Barca on November 10 with the Spanish Under-17 national team in Indonesia Under-17 World Junior Championship, it is also a world stage to prove himself.
Like Fermin and Yamal, the overnight celebrity of Guiu is about to usher in a completely fateful contract extension. He signed his first contract with Barca in the summer of 2022, which expires in the summer of 2025, with an annual salary of only 60,000 euros. In the future, his annual salary will increase at least 10 times, and he will receive the same 400 million euros in liquidated damages as Fermin. If he performs well in the Under-17 World Junior Championship and later in Barca's first team, he may even be able to match Yamal with an annual salary of 3 million euros and a contract extension of 1 billion euros in liquidated damages.
But Xavi and Deco's ambitions go far beyond these three rookies, and their goal is to form a Barca with La Masia players as the core of the team, as they did back then. Among the 60 most promising Under-17 players named by The Guardian, in addition to Giv, Ramasia is also shortlisted by American goalkeeper Cochin, Georgian-Hungarian goalkeeper Jakobishvili, and 16-year-old German midfielder Davic, who beat Bayern and Arsenal this summer. In this summer's U17 European Junior Championship, he led the German Under-17 national junior team to win the championship with 2 goals and 4 assists, and wore Pedri's No.8 in the Barça B team, also according to Pedri's style.
Barça B team captain Casado, central defender Kubas, right back Fonte, defender Priem and Giu will all play in the Under-17 World Junior Championship, while goalkeeper Jakobishvili, midfielder Davic and they are also participating in this season's Under-19 Youth Champions League. In addition, Bernal, who scored twice in Barca's B team last Sunday, also attracted widespread attention. Xavi is not worried about Barca's first-team squad, because the nine rookies in the Champions League B squad are the future that he and Deco are more focused on.
When Deco first took over as sporting director, the Portuguese legend had already said that promoting new players was his main responsibility. To that end, he spent a lot of time with the Barça B team and the Under-19 and below. After Givu became an overnight success, Deco said Barca's desire to find the perfect balance between the first team, La Masia and the loaner player.
Barca's economic situation shows no signs of improving anytime soon, but Xavi and Deco have found a "La Masia" solution. In addition to this group of up-and-coming rookies, plus the first-team Gavi, Balder and over 30-year-old Roberto and Romeu, Araujo and Pedri, who entered Barca as semi-finished products, and E. Garcia and Ansu Fathi on loan, Barca, who recreated the glory of 10 years ago, Barça are already on the horizon.