Top 5 Homegrown players in Barcelona's history

#3 Xavi Hernandez

A management career on the road ahead for Xavi?

Xavi joined La Masia at the age of 11, making his way through the ranks and making his debut for Barcelona B in 1997. After a good year with them, he earned himself a senior debut in May 1998 in the Copa Catalunya.

What followed, of course, in the next 17 odd years, was an incredibly successful career that brought him a mind boggling 25 major honours with his club, and 3 with Spain.

At the peak of his playing career in a team that was honed by Pep Guardiola into one of the finest club teams in the history of the sport, Xavi was easily the best box-to-box central midfielder on the planet.

Xavi was the archetype of the highly technical and skilled midfielders that La Masia was producing at the turn of the century. Blessed with an incredible tactical and spatial awareness, his ability to keep the ball moving and pick out empty spaces was exactly what Guardiola needed in his midfielders.

He holds the record for most number of appearances for the club with over 750 in all competitions. In spite of younger players like Fabregas and Thiago coming through the youth system, Xavi was always first choice in midfield throughout his career.

He was also the heart of an incredible Spanish midfield that was based on the same template as Pep's Barca, a team that won an unprecedented three successive international trophies between 2008 and 2012.

Xavi eventually moved on to Qatari club Al Sadd in 2015 at the age of 35, as the signing of Ivan Rakitic had started limiting his first team chances. He also recently announced that he'd be retiring at the end of the season to pursue a coaching career.