Antonio Conte praises Barcelona’s work with its young players

Antonio Conte says he is impressed by Barcelona and its youth development. The former coach praised the work with young players and said he would like to visit La Masia to see how its youth teams operate. “They are doing something extraordinary,” he said.

Conte highlighted how naturally players from La Masia join Barcelona’s team at 18 and play in front of 100,000 people. In his view, that ease reflects the work behind the scenes and the coordination between the youth setup and the coach. He also praised a clearly defined structure aligned with the first team.

To explain his impression, Conte brought up Xavi Espart. This year, while watching a Barcelona match, he heard the young left-back’s name. Conte said the DAZN commentator had indicated that the player had featured in only four matches of 10 minutes each last season and that a loan was being considered this year. Yet Conte saw him start with remarkable ease. He said he had watched Espart on television during that match.

Conte also mentioned Anthony Gordon, who played out wide before cutting inside, providing an assist and, in Conte’s view, showing strong personality. Those examples underpin his admiration for Barcelona’s youth development and his wish to see La Masia for himself.