Rising through the ranks of the world’s most famous football academy
There aren’t many football players that can say they were raised at La Masia, FC Barcelona’s youth academy. Considered one of the most famous footballing academies in the world, the old farmhouse built in 1702 has seen some of modern football’s best players live within its walls. Players like Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué, Cesc Fabregas, and of course, Lionel Messi, were bred at La Masia before making the jump to the first team. They would go on to dominate world football for years to come.
That’s where the Impact’s newest acquisition, Bojan Krkić, learned the game of football. Bojan joined the prestigious academy as an eight-year old, in 1999. For seven years, he donned the red and blue colours of the Barcelona jersey, progressing through the ranks until the first team.
It’s reported that the young Catalan scored over 900 goals for Barcelona’s various youth teams, numbers that can only be compared to Lionel Messi’s, three years older than Bojan. Finally, he would make his first team debut in 2007 under head coach Frank Rijkaard, coming on in the 78th minute of a game against Osasuna, becoming one of the youngest players in Barcelona history to make their first team debut.
A month later, in his first start against La Liga side Villareal, Bojan needed just 25 minutes to find the back of the net, running in the defender’s back before receiving an inch-perfect pass from Messi and tucking it in off the left post. He would become the youngest goal scorer in Barcelona history, beating the record of the one who gave him the assist, Leo Messi himself.
The young Krkić would spend the next four seasons with the Spanish giants, making 163 appearances and scoring 41 goals in La Liga, the Champions League, and various league cups, playing alongside players that continue to mark a generation of football.
Born and raised in Catalonia
Krkić was born in Linyola, Catalonia, to a Serbian father and a Spanish mother. There are many reasons why young Bojan would become passionate with the game of football; not only was he born in a country that’s produced some of the most famous footballers in the world, his father, Bojan Krkić Sr., was a former footballer as well who represented four Yugoslav first League clubs, most notably OFK Beograd, for whom he made 50 appearances.
After his career, his father would also work with Barcelona as a scout during the time his son was with the club as well. Although it’s less than a two-hour drive from Bojan’s childhood home to Barcelona, the entire family would move to the big city when the young player started shining in the academy.
Throughout his career, Bojan would encompass La Masia’s philosophy into the way he played the beautiful game. Technically gifted, which is seen as a prerequisite and deemed of vital importance by the famous academy, Bojan plays the traditional Spanish one-touch play, more commonly referred to as tiki-taka. Fluid on the ball and quick on his feet, the 28-year-old Spaniard can be lethal in the attacking third, having proven more than once before that he has an eye for goal.
Pep Guardiola, a former Barca player, reserve team head coach, and first team head coach for the Catalan club, said it best when referring to Barcelona’s academy: “The player who has passed through La Masia has something different than the rest. It's a plus that only comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from the time you were a child.”
