[Fabrizio Romano] Barça 2008 born talent Toni Fernández has made final decision to stay at the club and sign new contract. Despite proposals from several clubs in Europe, Fernández told Barça he wants to stay and he will sign new deal. Terms to be agreed in July.

This is how Barca get back to being an elite competitor. A critical mass of youth talent who not only have potential to become world class but also have a desire to play for the first team and win all the biggest prizes. Of course they can’t all be World beaters but even the ones that aren’t the absolute best can make a contribution as squad players before it’s time to sell them off to a team where they can play more.

The key thing is to get that value add factor in. That’s where Barca have fallen short in recent years. It’s no good to have a player who they got cheap that they would like to sell for 30 million pounds if they don’t even let the player actually play anymore (example Denis Suarez and JC Todibo). The art is in not only giving young players the platform to demonstrate their talent and turn heads but also in having their replacements already at the club and being developed in parallel so that they’re already ready to make that step up when the player they’re going to replace is ready to be sold. That’s what Ajax, Porto and Benfica do and Barca need to adapt that concept. Having the most valuable players contacts under control so that they can’t be cheaply bought out of their contract is bit step one of a whole apparatus that Barca haven’t quite mastered. It’s great that Barca are getting more out of cheap signings and youth players that emerge from las masia. The situation with center backs this season could be a demonstration of growth however. The club could and should determine who stays based on which center back attracts the biggest/best offer. If big ron refuses to sign a new contract and can be sold for huge money then it might be worth keeping Inigo if Faye insists on moving should Porto or another club accept Barca’s sale terms. I would love to see Faye become a beast of a defender at a club like Porto and then get bought back for significantly less than what they could get other clubs to pay for him.