Barcelona have seen another promising La Masia starlet leaving the club, with Pablo Moreno joining Serie A club Juventus for a reported fee of €700,000.
Juventus have released an official statement confirming the capture of Pablo Moreno. The Barcelona wonderkid joins the Serie A giants for a fee reported to be in the region of €700,000. The youngster was regarded as one of the best up-and-coming talents within the La Masia setup.
Pablo Moreno is a name that has been doing the rounds for quite a while within the Barcelona camp. While a major portion of it was due to the speculation surrounding his future, a part of it was the clamouring from Barcelona and La Masia officials to try and convince the striker to stay put.
?Pablo Moreno
• welcome to juventus— Jυνє ιηƒσ (@BrownQ81) July 25, 2018
There was good reason behind their desperation to get the youngster to stay at the club. The striker has an ominous record of over 200 goals while representing Barcelona in different age groups. 72 goals in 27 games for the youth side of Barcelona is just one glimpse of the prodigious talent that Moreno is hailed to be.
Moreno was first linked with Manchester City, with the Citizens looking to sign three of Barcelona’s wondrous prospects. But, it seems Juventus have snapped the player up. The €700,000 fee does sound a lot for a 16-year-old. But, judging by the overall reaction from within Barcelona’s camp and the Blaugrana fans, it seems like a bargain.
According to rumours, Juventus were also trying to sign Abel Ruiz, who has decided to renew his deal and stay at Barcelona. The Bianconeri are also pursuing Alejandro Marques, another player who is rated very highly within La Masia.
Pablo Moreno is only the latest name in a long line of prodigies to exit Barcelona citing a lack of pathway into the first-team and a few other problems. Sergio Gomez initiated the exodus by joining Borussia Dortmund, with Robert Navarro opting to sign for AS Monaco and Joel Lopez also leaving the club.
Eric Garcia – Manchester City.
Sergio Gomez – Borussia Dortmund.
Robert Navarro – AS Monaco.
Pablo Moreno – Juventus.…
Top La Masia prospects choose their career pathways elsewhere due lack of perspectives in Catalunya. Another sign of Barcelona’s cultural downfall. pic.twitter.com/DkIep8hZHc
— Sjors van Veen (@SjorsvanVeen) July 27, 2018
Barcelona will definitely be bothered by the exodus of young and promising talents from their youth setup. The Catalans are looking to compensate for the departures with a few arrivals from other clubs. The club is said to have handed prodigious attacking midfielder Alex Perez a trial in an attempt to beat Chelsea and Liverpool to the Uruguayan.
Still, Barcelona need to take a long hard look at their youth setup and its shortcomings. The promotion of young gems into the first-team is a matter of culture and heritage for Barcelona. And they are in fear of a potential destruction of the same.
