Having starred in arguably the greatest FC Barcelona team of all time, legendary midfielder Andres Iniesta has made an admission about the future of the club.
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Having been formed in Barcelona's famed La Masia academy, Iniesta went on to star in more than 600 appearances for the Catalan giants, during a period when a side dominated by fellow academy graduates was arguably the most dominant in European football history.
Iniesta took to the pitch alongside club legends such as Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi, Pedro and Lionel Messi, to name a few, all of whom came through the Blaugrana's youth ranks, but he has now made the admission that he believes Barca are unlikely to enjoy similar homegrown success again.
"That generation will never be repeated but what follows does not have to necessarily be worse in terms of how the club fares. It will never be same, but it doesn't have to be worse," the Vissel Kobe midfielder told The Guardian.
"There have been all sorts of eras in the club's history: young players used to get a chance in the first team, when results were bad and they had to turn to the youth team. That happened in my era.
Click through the gallery below to see eight players who have been linked with a move to Barca:
"But then you have the period when you have 10, 11, 12 players from the youth team in the first-team squad. It depends on who the coach is, the situation of the club, but I always think that a player in the youth system who is good enough to play in the first team reaches the first team, in one situation or the other.
"It was many years living this club, growing up here since we were very young, getting into the first team and staying there for 10, 12, 15 years, becoming captains. We were all formed here as people.
"It's difficult for something like that to happen. It's very difficult. We're talking about Barcelona, a club with the best players.
"Víctor, Puyol, Xavi, me: we came up in a scenario to Busi (Sergio Busquets), (Gerard) Pique, and Leo. We're people who have been at the club our whole lives and we have that 'plus' that others don't have."
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