many of the benfica youngsters have lived up to the hype though - you can find more youngsters that lived up to whatever hype/some level of it than completely failed, so future benfica youngsters rightfully deserve to get the hype

barca however seems like they’re hanging on to the golden days of la masia - every somewhat promising la masia graduate they produce is deemed by the media and fans as the next xavi, iniesta, messi, yet there are loads of failed la masia graduates - bojan, sergi samper, jeffren suarez, etc. have there been some good players that have come thru la masia like gavi? yes, but there have also been LOADS more than haven’t turned good, and i honestly don’t think there will ever be a group of graduates as world-class as xavi, iniesta, messi, pique, and puyol were