The youngest squad of the last decade
Ronald Koeman's Barça is a team for the present and for the future. The current Barça squad has the youngest average age of all the squads from the last decade; 25.33 years among the 24 first-team players. It's a balanced squad that has future stars like Ansu Fati, Pedri andr Dest, but also experienced players like captains Messi, Sergio and Piqué.
Of this total of 24 players, it should be noted that 12 are 25 years old or younger: Lenglet (25), Junior Firpo (24), De Jong (23), Dembélé (23), Aleñá (22), Matheus Fernandes (22), Araujo (21), Riqui Puig (21), Trincao (20), Dest (20), Ansu Fati (18) and Pedri (17).
The youth of these players complement a perfect hybrid with the seniority and experience of the rest of the squad: Umtiti (26), Coutinho (28), Ter Stegen (28), Sergi Roberto (28), Braithwaite (29), Griezmann (29), Pjanic (30), Neto (31), Jordi Alba (31), Sergio Busquets (32), Leo Messi (33) and Piqué (33).
| SEASON | NUMBER OF PLAYERS | AVERAGE AGE |
| 2011/12 | 21 players | 26.71 years |
| 2012/13 | 22 players | 26.50 years |
| 2013/14 | 25 players | 26.16 years |
| 2014/15 | 23 players | 26.39 years |
| 2015/16 | 24 players | 26.87 years |
| 2016/17 | 22 players | 26.31 years |
| 2017/18 | 24 players | 26.66 years |
| 2018/19 | 23 players | 26.04 years |
| 2019/20 | 21 players | 26.28 years |
| 2020/21 | 24 players | 25.33 years |
These averages have been made taking into account the ages of the players and squads at the beginning of each of the seasons, without counting the ups and downs in the winter markets. Nor have the footballers registered to the youth teams been taken into account, only the players registered for the first team. Therefore, the average age of 25.33 years for the 2020/21 squad is clearly younger than any of the last decade, with the closest in average age being the 2018/19 squad who had an average age of 26.04 years.
For the first time in the last decade, the average age of the team is below 26 years, and compared to last season, the team is one year younger. There are nine players in the first-team that were trained at La Masia (Piqué, Araujo, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Riqui Puig, Aleñá, Messi and Ansu Fati) as well as other youngsters making headway in the senior set-up, such as Iñaki Peña, Konrad and Arnau Tenas - who would lower the average age further. Without a doubt, Barça have a squad packed full of quality and one that is ready for the future.
