Following Gerard Deulofeu’s departure to Everton, Barcelona presidential candidate Toni Freixa feels the club need to look again at their famed academy, La Masia.

The winger was highly rated when he was coming though La Masia and following a successful loan spell at Everton during the 2013/14 season, the Catalan was expected to push on for a first team slot at the Camp Nou.




However, he was sent on another loan spell to Sevilla last summer, but the 21-year-old failed to push on for Unai Emery’s side and made just 17 La Liga appearances.

Everton reached a €6m agreement with Barcelona to sign the Spaniard on a permanent deal yesterday and many feel that the club didn’t provide Deulofeu the proper platform to shine.
 


Freixa, who is one of the candidates for next month’s elections, feels that the club need to rethink their strategy for their academy as he believes Deulofeu’s departure has showed that the current model is not working.

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"Deulofeu's departure is an example and consequence of the fact that the current La Masia model isn't the best”, Freixa was quoted as saying by Marca.

“We have to identify what's happened and solve it so that it doesn't happen again."

The winger made just six senior appearances for the Catalan giants before sealing his permanent switch to Everton yesterday.

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