In a subliminal way, but clear and palpable enough, the Blaugrana club made official this Friday that neither Álex Collado nor Iñaki Peña will play any more in the subsidiary, thus being first team players for all purposes. And it is that Barcelona brought together all the youth of the subsidiary who are in the stage of the first team in Germany to make a pose and be able to send it through social networks. In total there were eight footballers: Nico González, Gavi, Rey Manaj, Comas, Tenas, Balde, Mortimer and Demir.
However, among the list of kids for the family portrait there were not two players who are in limbo, at least officially by the club, which has not yet ruled on the matter. We are talking about goalkeeper Iñaki Peña and forward Álex Collado. It seems clear that the absence of the two footballers in the official photo of the youngsters on the Germany stage confirms that neither of them is already considered as a subsidiary player, which is why they are considered first team players for all purposes.
In Collado's case, this is nothing new, since his statements after the first pre-season friendly against Nàstic left little room for doubt, assuring that he only contemplated playing in the first team and that if this possibility did not exist, So he was ready to leave on loan, but making it very clear that he would not return to the subsidiary.
In the same circumstances, but without so much media noise, is the goalkeeper Iñaki Peña. The club is willing to trust the goal of the quarry, in the case of the Brazilian Neto pack his bags, to be the alternative of Marc André Ter Stegen under the sticks. In this way, their stage in the subsidiary would be considered definitively closed.
Among the eight Barcelona B footballers who meet with the first team there are three names that shine with their own light: Nico González, a midfielder called to be the natural replacement of Sergio Busquets, Yusuf Demir, a left-handed forward with a lot of talent and ability of imbalance that has surprised by his ambition and impudence, and Gavi, a very young midfielder of only 16 years with a spectacular natural talent and that many have already compared without any kind of blush with Andrés Iniesta.