Gerard Pique Quotes

There won't be more Messis, and we don't expect there to be more, as there won't be another generation in La Masia like the one with Xavi, Busi, Puyol, Iniesta and me.

I think La Masia is the most important academy in the world. The coaches and the whole club helps you for your future.

Like so many of the players, I started at La Masia at the age of 11. I can't ever imagine not playing for Barcelona, let alone not playing soccer for a career. I don't ever want to play anywhere else.

Football's about the young players, bringing youth team players through to the first team and hopefully getting the best out of them so they can go on to play for their country.

It's the perfect club for any footballer to develop and to grow, because as everybody knows, La Masia can give you stability; they take care of you when you leave home.

At the Barcelona youth academy, I lived right next to Camp Nou, but I spent my days watching movies.

Ajax is the best academy in the world.

A lot of the guys who played in the 1995 final for Ajax had been there since the age of 12 or 13. Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids had been there from age seven or eight, so I had a lot of catching up to do.

I played for Barcelona, for Ajax, where it's important to develop and integrate young talent.

West Ham have a great academy.

It was only when I got to Tottenham as a youth player that they said, 'You need to be good in the air.' It was made clear I was going be a target man, so I had to start working on my technique.

The Barcelona youth program is one of the best in the world. As a kid, they teach you not to play to win, but to grow in ability as a player.

Best player? For me, it's Paul Scholes. He'll do ridiculous things in training like say, “You see that tree over there?” - it'll be 40 yards away - “I'm going to hit it”. And he'll do it. Everyone at the club considers him the best.

I can remember when I was a 17-year-old at Swansea and Terry Yorath and Tommy Hutchison were in charge.

I was a promising keeper as a kid and, at 15 and 16, was on the books of Crewe Alexandra.

Liverpool give young players a good opportunity.

Obviously, everyone looks at whether we bring young footballers into the first team, that's one of the goals. But I wouldn't discard someone who is successful in life, that's big. The hall of fame in the academy should be a wide variety of stories.

Germany, when you're a young player, is the best. There are lots of young talents here, and people have faith in them.

I signed as an 11-year-old for Everton. I broke into the Under-18s at the age of 14, then the reserves at 15, then I was in the first-team squad at 16.

Novi Sad is a really beautiful city, and the club is really nice. It is one of the best youth academies in Serbia.

I've never been blessed with height, strength and power so I've had to learn how to play differently from a young age, my game was all based on technique and when I look at players like Xavi and Iniesta they were always players I modelled myself on.

It's not easy to break into an Arsenal team from youth.

Manchester City has a really good academy, and they're winning titles at all ages.

I was about five or six when I went to the little foundation camps. I got into the academy when I was nine, and I've gone through every age group since and into the first team.

You can never know if there will be a second Cruyff, someone with a great personality who can grow up and make it into the squad of the club they love. But what is certain is that, in the Champions League, there will be big clubs producing these players forever.