Carles Alena waited a lifetime for a chance in Barcelona’s starting XI.
But, in the space of just 45 minutes in Bilbao, the La Masia graduate saw a childhood dream slip through his fingers.
Alena was handed a shock start as Barca travelled to the Basque country on the opening day of the 2019/20 season. The silky Spaniard did very little wrong at the San Mames. But, with the Kings of Catalonia struggling to exert their usual dominance over their well-drilled hosts, it was Alena who was sacrificed at half-time for the experience of Ivan Rakitic.
When Barcelona took on Real Betis a week later, Alena was nowhere to be seen, dropped from the squad entirely. In fact, he wouldn’t make another appearance until December and, a few weeks after that, was farmed out on loan to Real Betis.
Flash forward to mid-November, 2020, and little has changed for a man who joined Barca’s famed academy a year before a team including Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o beat Arsenal in the Champions League final.
While Valverde was often criticised for failing to give youth a chance at the Camp Nou, the same cannot be said of Ronald Koeman.
Teenagers Pedri, Ansu Fati and Francisco Trincao have quickly become regulars under the legendary Dutchman. But, with just seven minutes of football all season and none of those coming in La Liga, Alena is further down the pecking order than ever before under Koeman.
Sport claims that the Spain U21 international has run out of patience at his boyhood club. He, and Barca, will listen to offers in January with one as yet unnamed Premier League club rumoured to be interested.
Considering that they were linked via Marca over the summer, that mystery outfit may just be a Newcastle United side who would benefit immensely from Alena’s intelligent, composed passing game.
Only Sheffield United and Crystal Palace average less possession per game than Steve Bruce’s Magpies (40 per cent). Newcastle also rank 16th for completed passes and 18th for the number of short passes attempted per 90 minutes (FBREF).
Alena to Newcastle, then, feels like a useful solution to a growing problem.
While Barcelona have more ball-playing play-makers than they can fit in a squad, Newcastle’s mirage of a midfield could be transformed by a player who models his game on Xavi, Deco and Andres Iniesta.
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