FC Barcelona Madness: Jeffren and Guardiola's Cantera phobia

Just a few of my mad, rambling thoughts on Barca. Mainly about Jeffren and Guardiola’s phobia of La Masia.

At this current time, the rumours are flying around. Bojan to Roma, Sanchez to Barca, Cesc to Barca, Rossi to Barca, whatever it is, it doesn’t leave much hope for one player. A guy who has never really a chance.

A guy named Jeffren.

Considering the futility of the rumours – I mean, the transfer window doesn’t open ‘til July anyway – this talk is all a little premature, but should Jeffren and Bojan leave, it accentuates a thought I have had for the past season or so:

Guardiola is not trusting La Masia as much as he should.

Think about it. Every rumour, every transfer story.

First, Barcelona need a defender. "Thiago Silva" scream the tabloids, "David Luiz" is shouted from the top of a skyscraper, "Mamadou Sakho" protest the messageboards.

Hang on a minute...

Isn’t there a plethora of defenders from La Masia, all available for the low, low price of NOTHING?

Andreu Fontas. Martin Montoya. Marc Bartra.

Barcelona do not need a first team defender. They need back-up, squad depth is what they call it now, and why go through all the trouble of finding a defender that can play the Barca style when you have a bunch of them just waiting for the call, or in Botia’s case, a call and some money for Sporting Gijon.

Guardiola is hesitant to promote any of them.

Now for midfield. There is Rosell’s obsession with Fabregas, which all agree is pointless, but the point stands, FC Barcelona need strength in numbers, so where does Guardiola turn?

Does he turn to Thiago, guaranteeing him more minutes and a greater responsibiltity? Maybe the likes of Jonathan Dos Santos, Sergio Roberto, or even Rafinha Alcanatara? Don’t be silly. They are not Sergio Busquets, so Guardiola isn’t going to do it.

Now we come to the topic of this, Jeffren, and to a lesser extent, Bojan.

When Guardiola arrived, he promoted Pedro, and from obscurity, a star was born. To date, he is the only player to score in six competitions in the space of one season. Goals keep on coming and so do the plaudits.

Trouble is, no-one else gets a look in. Pep Guardiola would never dare to drop Messi or Pedro. David Villa's case is a strange one, but given the fact that he was bought to replace another flop, Ibrahimovic, he is also safe. FC Barcelona do still need back-up forwards though. Bojan has had his chance, and remains streaky at best. He could bench Ibra, but consistency evades him.

So, with the sincerest of regrets, I say a transfer away is the best thing to do.

But Jeffren is another player that looks to be leaving, albeit without a chance to showcase his abilities. That saddens me.

Just earlier today, I watched the Spain – Belarus game in the Under 21 European Championships. Jeffren came off the bench and was pivotal to their eventual success. A replacement for Iker Munian, probably the best Spainish player up to that point, his arrival was a shock. If I’m honest, Jeffren started off terrible. He misplaced passes, slipped over when chasing them, and was just plain awful.

That all changed when Thiago played him through, in the 89^th minute. Spain needed a goal to take the match into extra-time, and Jeffren had been forced wide because of the pass. The chance looked gone, but it wasn’t, as Jeffren fizzed across a peach of a cross that Adrian converted.

Cue mad celebrations.

Adrian later made it 2-1 in extra-time, but Belarus were beginning to threaten. Emphasis on beginning, as Jeffren showed the world his undoubted talent with a screamer from 20 yards out. Spain were in the final, and I was left perplexed.

Why do Barcelona want to sign Sanchez? Why is Jeffren being forced out? Why is this happening without him getting his chance?

It was not a perfect performance, far from it. It was strewn with errors, but dotted with brilliance. Guardiola needs to give him his chance, let him have time to iron out the imperfections in his game, not kick him out the door.

After all, without Jeffren, there would have been no 5-0 win over Real Madrid...

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