Robert Lewandowski sends a warning to Barcelona’s young players

FC Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski gave an interview this week to Polish television channel ‘TVP Sport’, in which he praised the excellence of the La Masia academy. However, despite the positivity, he criticised the way in which the focus was so heavily placed on the club’s youngest players, with the striker reflecting on the problems that come with putting such responsibility on 16- to 17-year-olds in professional football.

“The people around them must be prepared for what might happen if things don’t go well. The pressure they are under is enormous and few people are capable of taking it on. We’ll see if these new players are mentally capable of lasting ten, twelve or more years.

Lewandowski: ‘You can’t escape social media’

Lewandowski saw the exposure of social media as the big enemy for this new generation of footballers: “Everything is more difficult with Instagram and the rest of social media. You can’t escape it and you can’t stay within the four walls. Right now it’s the great challenge of football.”

Fortunately, the forward said that not everything was black clouds on the horizon, and put special emphasis on the figure of young Pau Cubarsí. The centre-back is an example for Lewandowski of how to develop a player and carry them to the elite level.

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“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a centre-back of this age breaking the lines with such a capacity in build-up with the ball and playing with such calmness. And best of all, he is also a great person”. The striker also had words of praise for Fermín López, who he said was “a boy who never stops progressing and working”.

Finally, speaking about himself, the Polish attacker admitted that these last few years have helped him to assimilate some things in the world of football that he considered trivial or less important: “During these last four or five years I have changed and I have a different view on certain issues. The path you take in life teaches you many things. These are things that you don’t learn in books”.