Barca to raid young Lions
Marcus McGuane on following Lineker’s path, leaving Arsenal and his £22m buyout clause!
Barcelona have warned Premier league clubs they are ready to swoop for talented young english players. It follows the signing in January of Marcus McGuane, the 19-year-old ex-arsenal midfielder who reveals in an exclusive Sportsmail interview today how he became the first englishman to play for Barca since Gary lineker. McGuane made his first-team debut on Wednesday in the victory over espanyol in the catalonia cup final. Jose Mari Bakero, Barca’s head of youth football, admitted england’s international success at youth level has resonated across the continent. Bakero said: ‘You may see more young english players leaving the country. There is so much talent there, some are seeing that there is little prospect of a big future in a first team. We have scouts working in england. now we have a bank of information about kids that are 14, 15, 16 years old.’
Marcus McGuane wanders into the games room at Barcelona’s La Masia academy. He glances round, passing the pool table, Playstations and dartboard. Then he stares at the montage on the wall.
The name of every player who has slept in a La Masia dormitory is etched into the tapestry. His smile broadens. ‘There’s Fabregas,’ he says, pointing to the chelsea midfielder’s name. ‘as a six-year-old, I had a picture taken under his shirt in the arsenal dressing room. Look, there’s Iniesta, Puyol and near the top is Pep Guardiola.’
For McGuane, every day appears to bring new joy. Barcelona were busy in england in January, prising Philippe coutinho from Liverpool in a £145million transfer. Yet at the foothills of the Pyrenees, Barca are feeling smug about the deal to tempt McGuane, who turned 19 last month, from arsenal to become the first englishman since Gary Lineker to sign for them.
On the day we meet, he was invited to train with the Barcelona first team. On Wednesday night, he made his first-team debut as a substitute in the catalonia cup final victory over espanyol. ‘It feels incredible,’ McGuane tells Sportsmail. ‘When you go to first-team training, you go into the dressing room first. That first walk was so exciting. The first person I saw was sergio Busquets. as a central midfielder, seeing him in the flesh, one of the best in the world on the ball, his grace, technical ability . . . then I saw coutinho . . . then Messi!
‘You don’t want to act too star-struck but I grew up watching these guys on television. Five of us were over there from the B team. The first-teamers came up and said “Hi” as they got their kits together. coutinho heard my english accent, made me feel welcome, and said he was there if I need anything.’
McGuane is adapting to life rapidly. He has moved into a city-centre apartment with his girlfriend, his language lessons begin this week and his coaches have been impressed by his maturity and quality in training.
at Barcelona, they regard McGuane with fondness. Jose Mari Bakero, a crucial midfield cog in the 1992 european cup-winning team alongside Guardiola, ronald Koeman and Michael Laudrup, is now the club’s head of youth football. He is effusive in his praise.
Bakero says: ‘We’ve brought Marcus here with the idea he can eventually go to the first team. He has fantastic physical attributes, he is two-footed, his touch is sharp, good awareness . . . he has all that we would look for in a midfield player for the Barcelona first team. But he must work hard.’
Barcelona scout Bojan Krkic snr nods his head beside Bakero, adding that McGuane was monitored for over a year before the club pounced, with the player’s contract set to expire in the summer. Barcelona placed a £21.9m buyout clause in his three-year contract.
For arsenal, however, this deal represented a blow. McGuane grew up in Woolwich, first training with his boyhood club as a five-year-old and remains indebted to his mum, Patricia, for the sacrifices she made.
‘Growing up, it was my mum and brothers,’ he says. ‘To get to training, we caught three trains and a bus, walking 20 minutes from the last bus stop when I was six years old. Mum didn’t have a clue about football but people were saying, “He’s got a bit of talent”. Mum listened to them and took me to the local leisure centre.
‘she worked in accounts and juggled everything. We would get home at ridiculous times. I would train 6-8pm and sometimes we’d get back at 11pm. But it’s all worth it now.’
In his teenage years, McGuane was regarded as one of arsenal’s brightest prospects. Yet english football has a profound development problem between the ages of 18 and 21, when opportunities are restricted by Premier League clubs choosing to spend fortunes on ready-made talent.
To make matters worse, the under 23 Premier League is deemed uncompetitive by many clubs and young players.
McGuane trained regularly with arsenal’s first team but was restricted to a couple of europa League substitute appearances. He feared his progress might stall. ‘I was getting frustrated by a lack of opportunities,’ he says. ‘It is good to train but I did not want my performance to plateau and stay at the same level. This step made sense.’
now at Barcelona, he plays in the B team in the spanish second tier against clubs with attendances regularly over 25,000.
McGuane says: ‘It’s a competitive league. There is a lot of emphasis on winning as well as performance. People have a misconception about spain. They think it is about how many passes you make, like they are obsessed with possession stats. It is far from true. The emphasis is on winning but of course it matters how you win.’ McGuane has seen the english talent in his age group close up. He has represented england at u17, u18 and u19 level and stresses the importance of offering chances to young players who lifted World cups for england last year. ‘ every manager has huge pressure to win trophies or you are gone. But we can’t be too scared to give youngsters opportunities.’ Did arsene Wenger indicate those opportunities would come? ‘I didn’t have any conversations with him,’ he says. ‘I thought if I kept working hard, I would get opportunities. It didn’t come. There’s no grudge but I felt the best thing was to find another way. If you want to be at a place to develop and get first-team football, maybe you have to look elsewhere than arsenal.’
McGuane’s path should become more familiar in the coming years. He points out that his generation have grown up worshipping players and clubs from abroad. His exarsenal team-mate chris Willock moved to Benfica. Manchester city lost Jadon sancho to Borussia Dortmund.
‘Before english footballers were less adventurous. now we see opportunities elsewhere,’ he says.
after Wednesday, McGuane is hungry for more chances. He smiles: ‘People tell me I am the first since Lineker. It’s a massive achievement but I want to be a first-teamer and will do everything to get there.’
‘If you want first-team action, maybe you have to quit Arsenal’