Barcelona academy: The rising stars from La Masia to watch out for

Generally speaking, the average football fan cannot name the academies of many big teams in the world. But that is not the case for La Masia, arguably the greatest youth setup there has ever been.

Barcelona have produced many incredible players, be that for their own first-team or clubs across Europe. Players like Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets and many, many more players learnt their craft at La Masia.

It's an academy that is hard to judge when it comes to the next big thing as players are so quickly moved into the senior squad when deemed good enough. Lamine Yamal, Gavi, Pedri, Inaki Pena, Alejandro Balde and Fermin Lopez are playing regularly for the first team, with Yamal being just 16 years old.

The conveyor belt never stops at La Masia, so here are some players who could soon break through at Barca.

The young Pau Cubarsi is getting a lot of attention at the moment for his performances at Barca Atletic, and as we have seen recently with Yamal, youngsters can be plucked by Xavi for selection at any point regardless of age.

Given his youth, he has made just nine appearances for Barca Atletic so far, but he has looked like he belongs at that level and will soon be looking to force his way into the first team. Cubarsi was on the bench for the Copa del Rey clash against Barbastro but never got on, but Xavi is clearly aware of his talents.

Hector Fort is the player closest to regular first-team minutes on this list, as the young right-back has appeared twice for Barca this season. Right-back is a position Xavi is struggling with and Fort could take advantage of that if he can keep impressing.

He is able to play on both the right and left of the defence which immediately makes him