Football: Contrasting Barcelona ‘hype trains’ and the media’s role
Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, has a knack for producing prodigious talents. While some grow to become icons, others fizzle out and dribble their way out of the spotlight. Let’s look at the contrasting paths taken by recent La Masia graduates while also talking to a renowned voice of La Liga to discuss the role of the media in shaping their course.
Fati’s fading star
On 25 August 2019, an injury-crippled Barcelona handed a debut to the baby-faced baller, Ansu Fati, who was 16 years and 298 days old. What followed was a season of meteoric progress and the media frenzy aka hype train was well and truly on its way.
Six days after his debut, he bagged his first goal for Barcelona to become the youngest scorer in the club’s 120-year-long history. He forced his way into the starting 11, and the dominoes of records kept falling as he became the youngest goalscorer in Champions League history. Inevitably, the national team came calling.
Before you knew it, he became Spain’s youngest goal scorer ever. And then.
When #NxGn 2020 runner-up Ansu Fati became the youngest goal scorer in Champions League history 🤩
Barcelona have a special, special talent on their hands 👌pic.twitter.com/STa4RizBoe
— GOAL (@goal) April 1, 2020
The hype around him grew at a rate of knots. One of my favourite writers, Sid Lowe, wrote a piece in The Guardian titled, ‘A star is born’. Ben Grounds from Sky Sports broke down why Fati is ‘the next big thing.’ To top it all, he was given the iconic Barca number 10 jersey.
While the excitement was justified, Ansu Fati and his knee buckled under it.
On 7 November 2020, in a league game against Betis, he suffered a torn meniscus. The road to recovery since has been complicated, to say the least. Some say it’s still ongoing. A damaged knee and dented confidence have led the once mesmerising teenager to become a 20-year-old shadow of his former self. He’s been loaned out of the club, and this past weekend, the Spaniard continued his indifferent form for the national side against Norway.
Going gaga over Gavi
On 29 August 2021, fresh into the post-Messi era, Ronald Koeman handed a debut to the baby-faced brawler, Gavi. At 17 years and 24 days, this kid was an instant hit, La Masia had done it again. So much so that just over a month after his club debut, he donned the national colours to become La Roja’s youngest player ever.
Before you knew it, he became Spain’s youngest goal scorer ever. And then.
“He will be the future of the Spain squad… and I think the present too!” 🤩⁰⁰Barcelona and Spain have a VERY special talent on their hands in Gavi 👀 pic.twitter.com/kkpjAFRuq5
— GOAL (@goal) October 17, 2021
The hype train went full steam ahead. Goal once again stated that Barcelona “have a special talent on their hands.” The club gave him a contract extension with a release clause of a whopping one billion euros. He bagged the Kopa trophy for the best U21 player at the Ballon d’Or awards. And Barcelona gave him the number 6 jersey, famously worn by his boss and club legend, Xavi.
The excitement was, once again, justified. But this time, the mentality monster that is Gavi has thrived under it.
Barcelona added significantly to their midfield in the 2023 summer transfer window, and many believed that Gavi would be the one sacrificed from the starting lineup. However, since then, the mighty 5-foot-8 Spaniard has made himself undroppable. His consistency is underlined by the fact that he recently became the fastest ever to reach a century of appearances for Barcelona. And in the aforementioned tie between Spain and Norway, Gavi scored the winner that sealed La Roja’s spot at Euro 2024.
A reporter’s responsibility
In both of the above cases, a palpable excitement and expectation engulfed a footballer who wasn’t even an adult. While their talent merited the fanfare, football media must be more responsible while building a narrative around them. We discussed this with one of India’s favourite football presenters, Joe Morrison.
“First of all, there’s a duty of responsibility to any young player,” Joe said. “And history is littered with examples of players that have just been thrown to the wolves, so to speak, because the media has taken a particular narrative or angle and the fans have jumped on it.”
However, social media has also positively contributed to pro footballers being viewed more humanely. Professionals, past and present, have spoken up about mental health concerns during their careers. And this has led to a widespread, and primarily healthy, discourse.
“I think the responsibility is even greater now that we’re much more aware of the mental health issues of young athletes,” Joe added.
“The reason it’s important with youngsters in particular is because they haven’t got those life skills to put that block in place and ignore the noise. When you’re older, you can. Think about yourself, 16-17 years old.”
So yes, as journalists, we are responsible to the athlete. But most of us in this industry are fans, too, and you do wish to revel in this game that you love and players that show such great promise. So, how do you strike this balance? Or do you strike this balance?
“This balance dial – and I worked at the BBC – always had to be in the middle,” Joe continued. “Unfortunately, now the way algorithms work, that dial can no longer be just hovering around the middle.
“Now that dial has to go all the way to the left or all the way to the right. He’s either the next Leo Messi or he’s failed and no club should sign him again. And that’s the sad part.”
While working at the BBC, Joe was instructed to remain neutral. But times have changed.
“Now, I have to take a stance! Either way. It’s great having polar opposites on the show, and I was always very careful that we did have polar opposites. Whatever their stance was, I balanced their stance with a guest with an equal and opposite stance.
“And what I would do – I would jump between the two. In effect, I had balance, but what I was doing was going far to the right on one talking point, and then on another talking point, I’d go far to the left.
“So it is a form of balance, but it’s not sitting neutral, cause you can’t do that anymore, you just can’t.”
Step forward, Lamine Yamal
It’s 29 April 2023. A baby-faced… baby emerged from the bench to become Barca’s youngest player ever in La Liga. He’s 15 years and 290 days old. Yes, fifteen! He received a standing ovation from the Barca faithful even before he touched a ball. And it didn’t take long for Goal to tweet about him.
Lamine Yamal the next Messi & Ronaldinho 🔥🤝#Barcelonahttps://t.co/m1zCDIpJMh
— GOAL Indonesia (@GOAL_ID) October 15, 2023
A La Masia graduate who likes to cut in from the right wing and has a wand of a left foot. We all know where this is going. He soon broke the record for the youngest player ever to score in La Liga. He went on to become Barcelona’s youngest-ever debutant in the Champions League. And like clockwork, the national team came calling.
Before you knew it, he became Spain’s youngest goal scorer ever. And then?
