21st Century Cracks: Bernabé, another culé at City with Pep

In two consecutive summers (2017 and 2018) Manchester City took from La Masia the two most promising youth squads born in 2001 in Barcelona: Eric García and Adrián Barnabé. The history of the first, the most promising young Spanish central defender, we have already analyzed. Barnabas's case was similar to Eric's, although a summer later.

Bernabé (Barcelona, ​​2001) is a left-handed, talented attacking midfielder with a great vision of the game. In Manchester they compare him to Silva for his associative style. In 2013 his arrival at La Masia created a lot of controversy. It was the great promise of Espanyol, but it changed airs. Jordi Lardín, who was responsible for the Blue and Whites' academy, publicly criticized Barcelona and demanded measures so that this practice was not repeated in the future.

In the summer of 2018, after several successful seasons as Blaugrana, Pep Segura and José Mari Bakero tried to renew him. However, the economic offer (they did not want to break the salary barrier) and sports did not convince the footballer. His agents (Puyol and De la Peña) informed the club of their decision not to extend the contract. They accepted the offer of Manchester City, which managed to convince him despite the fact that Arsenal also made a succulent proposal.

Pep Guardiola took him on tour that same summer and soon after, on September 25, 2018, made him debut in the Carabao Cup against Oxford. The strong competition in his demarcation (Silva, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Foden …) has caused his appearances in the first team to have been dropper, but in Manchester they continue to see Barnabas as one of their strongest bets for the future …