体坛英语新闻：Barcelona places faith in youth team

MADRID, July 31 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona's Director of Football, Andoni Zubizarreta said Saturday that should the club fail in its attempts to sign midfielder Cecs Fabrigas from Arsenal, the club will put its faith in players who have progressed through the youth system.

Barcelona's attempts to buy back Cesc, who left the club to join Arsenal when he was just 16, seem to have hit a brick wall in London as Arsenal refuse to negotiate a price for their club captain.

Cesc is the signing Barcelona fans really want to see and failure to buy him would be a disappointment following a summer of speculation, but Zubizarreta is confident that should the Spain international not arrive, the club has enough quality in its ranks to more than compensate.

"Operation Cesc is perhaps the least secret operation in the history of football," he said in sports paper El Mundo Deportivo.

"It is very important, not just for the player, but also for the player. However, if he cannot come, we will always look at our youth system for the future," he said.

Barcelona kicked off pre-season training with 17 members of the B-team squad participation and those players gave an excellent performance as Barca won its first friendly game of the season 4-2 in Oslo on Thursday night.

Victor Sanche, and Jonathan Dos Santos, gave standout performances, while others such as Thiago Alcantara have formed part of the Spain Under-19 squad that reached the final of the Under-19 European Championship.

"We always look to our youth system to find the best solution when we are short in any certain position. We feel safe with what we already have at the club- Before we make signings, we always look to our youth system," added Zubizarreta, who also singles out defender Oriol Romeu for praise.

The Director of Football also gave a vote of confidence to striker Zlatan Ibrahimovich and added that defender Rafael Marquez was on the point of reaching an agreement to leave the club in order to play in America' s MLS.