The relegation of Barça's reserve team to the Second Division of the RFEF (RFEF) has opened a hurdle in the Barça offices.

Barça needs to sell players to reduce its wage bill, create room within its salary cap , and be able to register Joan García, Szczesny, and Marcus Rashford in LaLiga without any problems. With just 20 days until the start of the national competition, and with the accounting validation of the €100 million sale of the 475 VIP boxes at Camp Nou in doubt, Barça would only have Marc-André ter Stegen and Iñaki Peña as its goalkeepers registered in LaLiga.

For this reason, Barça's sporting director, Deco, is accelerating the sale of more players after the transfers of Pau Víctor, Álex Valle, and Pablo Torre. Specifically, midfielder Pablo Torre could face the same fate as one of La Masia's gems , Jan Virgili, according to Jijantes . At 19 years old, the promising Balearic winger started last season with the Blaugrana U19 team, but ended up playing for the reserve team, Barça Atlètic, and also earned a cap for the Spanish U19 national team.

Most Barça fans who follow the youth system expected Jan Virgili to be part of the reserve team's group of players traveling to Asia. However, following Marcus Rashford's arrival at the Catalan club, Virgili was left out, and Hansi Flick called up Pedro Fernández , nicknamed Dro; Jofre Torrents; Roony Bardghji; and Guille and Toni Fernández. What happened here?

The descent, a brown

The problem for Barça is that the relegation of its reserve team to the Second Division of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) opens up a complicated situation for the club, players, and agents. In just one year, Barça Atlètic has gone from being on the verge of promotion to the Second Division A to relegation to the fourth tier of Spanish football. The work and talent of a youth academy is never judged by its league status, but rather by its ability to nurture players for the first team.

In this sense, Barça has approached excellence in many ways. The club has ensured that its youth players form an essential part of the first team ( Lamine Yamal , Pau Cubarsí, Alejandro Balde), are invaluable pieces in the rotation (Marc Casadó, Marc Bernal, Gavi, Eric García, Gerard Martín) , or can be leveraged through their sales (Álex Valle, Mika Faye , Marc Guiu, Estanis Pedrola, Nico González). Héctor Fort could join this last group.

"It's too small for him"

According to Mundo Deportivo , Jan Virgili believes that the aforementioned Second Division RFEF " is too small for him and he is willing to leave ." He won't be the only Barça player to think similarly, especially when he sees that the first team has players as young as he is. Barça's response, with Flick as a manager who has clearly opted for the youth system, is for him to bring an offer that MD estimates at 4 million euros and 50% of a future transfer going to the club.

The gap between Barça's first team and the reserve team has already led to the departure of some of their best players . Sergi Domínguez signed for Dinamo Zagreb, Noah Darvich for Stuttgart, Aleix Garrido went to Eibar, and Pau Prim went to the Qatari league. The tour will be a boon for Pedro Fernández, Jofre Torrents, Rooy, and Toni and Guille Fernández, but Barça has almost all their positions doubled, and playing in the fourth division isn't attractive. The surprises might not be over yet.