BarcaKizz wrote:
The only 2 of our youth defenders who could have been part of it were Fontas and Montoya. Montoya was chosen, and started every game at rightback. He was very impressive, and kept out Azpilicueta, who has been playing top tier football for about 4 years now.

Fontas didn't make it, and yes, the reason is essentially there are better defenders out there. He played some of the qualifiers but didnt make this squad. The players that got in ahead of him were Botia, Dominguez, San Jose, Ruiz and Didac Vila. Three of whom are starters in La Liga and probably among the better centrebacks, the latter 2 graduates of Espanyol now owned by Serie A teams.

Bartra has been selected for U20 tournament, Gomez and Muniesa will be part of an U19 tournament. They're important players for those teams.

Of course, they could have been selected to play for U21 instead, like Thiago who is only 19, but there are more experienced and simply better players there for the moment.

On that note... anyone like the look of Didac at left back?? He's catalan after all and a bit of development and he could be a good player...

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:
@messixaviesta, most of the defenders selected for la rojita are playing in primera, or at least st division football. They might be talented, but they compare unfavorably against the likes of Ruiz, Botia, Dominguez etc...

messixaviesta wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:
The only 2 of our youth defenders who could have been part of it were Fontas and Montoya. Montoya was chosen, and started every game at rightback. He was very impressive, and kept out Azpilicueta, who has been playing top tier football for about 4 years now.

Fontas didn't make it, and yes, the reason is essentially there are better defenders out there. He played some of the qualifiers but didnt make this squad. The players that got in ahead of him were Botia, Dominguez, San Jose, Ruiz and Didac Vila. Three of whom are starters in La Liga and probably among the better centrebacks, the latter 2 graduates of Espanyol now owned by Serie A teams.

Bartra has been selected for U20 tournament, Gomez and Muniesa will be part of an U19 tournament. They're important players for those teams.

Of course, they could have been selected to play for U21 instead, like Thiago who is only 19, but there are more experienced and simply better players there for the moment.

On that note... anyone like the look of Didac at left back?? He's catalan after all and a bit of development and he could be a good player...

Thanks for the reply kizz.

I know about Martin Montoya. My question wasn't very clear. I meant center backs specifically.

I accept your explanation about Fontas but it probably suggests that he will not be the next big thing. We can expect him to a functional backup at most for us and not a mainstay of the team.

Nice to know that the others are being considered and I guess as you say it's only due to competition that they didn't make it to this one. Actually it's nice to see Spain having some amount of defensive talent in their youth because that has traditionally been one area of weakness.

I too noticed Didac Vila and wondered why did Milan loan him. Maybe he could have been big for them next season. Probably the purchase of Taiwo has made things more difficult for him.

messixaviesta wrote:

shinigami99 wrote:After seeing Thiago in the U21, I don't think I want him back.

Thiago has that very special mix of Brazilian flair and Spanish cerebral play. We must not lose him at any cost. Even a one year loan with buy back option sounds risky. Firstly it must be detailed very carefully. Secondly what if Thiago sees this as a slight and doesn't want to come back. We should send him on loan with buy back only if he really wants to go. He is already looking like one of the future stars of the game. He is probably now completely ready to be both Xavi's and Iniesta's immediate understudy thus negating the need to buy a central midfielder this summer.

BarcaKizz wrote:
JD I don't know if you could say that Fontas not being selected proves he's worse than those other guys. Its basically just that they've had more of a chance to prove themselves at higher levels. To me its just like comparing Wilshere and Thiago. Anyone who's actually been watching Thiago closely would dare not say he's an inferior player, but also the simple fact that Wilshere's already an established player means you've got to put him on a higher level for now. Fontas is playing at Barca, not Sporting Gijon. Its going to take him a lot longer to break through and a lot longer to show what he can do. That he's had the patience to stay and fight his way up is admirable.

I don't really see Fontas becoming a brilliant centreback, but I'm not going to say he won't end up better than someone like Botia either.

Basically JD, there's nothing to worry about, we have a golden age of defenders in our youth ranks right now. They aren't lacking quality, far from it.