Barcelona to send two scouts for two upcoming youth events in South America | OneFootball

La Masia is undoubtedly one of the greatest talent development academies in Spain. Over the years, players emerging from FC Barcelona’s youth system have played a significant role in shaping the history of the Spanish national team

However, talents from South America have also regularly made their way to the Blaugrana club, with Lionel Messi one of the most shining examples of the Catalan club’s ability to detect and incorporate young talented players from this part of the world.

In recent years, Barcelona have laid an even greater emphasis on talent emerging from South America, and their scouting network there, headed by Paulo Araujo, is one of the strongest among European clubs.

However, according to SPORT, two scouts from Barcelona will travel across the Atlantic Ocean in the coming days to attend two key youth tournaments, the Sao Paulo Juniors Cup, the 55th edition of the most traditional grassroots competition in Brazil, and the South American U-20 Championship.

The former of these competitions, nicknamed the Copinha, is scheduled to take place from January 2nd to 25th. In this particular edition, there will be comparatively more younger players as clubs will want to take their most prominent U-20 players to their pre-seasons with the first teams, which will also coincide with the Copinha.

The second competition, the South American U-20 Championship, was previously scheduled to take place in Peru, but its venue has now been changed to Venezuela.

It will kick off on 23rd January, and its final will take place on 16th February. Some of the best young talents of the continent will be participating in this competition as there are four U-20 World Cup spots at stake.

The draws for the first phase of the competition have already taken place, and most of the eyes will be set upon matches of Group B, where Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia will all fight out for a place in the knock-out rounds of the competition.