Barcelona Legend Xavi Hernandez opposes the idea of re-signing youngsters

Doha, July 14: Barcelona legend and former Spanish midfielder Xavi has taken a sly dig and criticised Barcelona's Academy prospects for leaving the club so young.

The Catalan Club have been strongly linked this summer with Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin who left the club as a 16-year-old for England and when Xavi was asked if he would sign Bellerin, the midfielder revealed he would never consider making a move for the Spain international.

"I haven't seen him play a lot, but what I will say is I find it difficult to accept signing a player who was already at the club."

"Of course it can work out, but I would not sign players who leave. Why are they leaving at 16, 17? I find it baffling. I just don't understand it," he added.

The World Cup winner also talked about the recent possible departures of two Barcelona graduates Jordi Mboula and Eric Garcia to Monaco and Manchester City respectively and said in his philosophy he would never buy them back.

"Yes, their decisions surprised me. I wouldn't buy them back in the future. That would be my philosophy. You were at the club, you decided to leave, so you don't then come back.

"I understand that if you want to leave there must be a reason, like [Jon] Toral, who has an English mother. Fine. But that's how it is [if you leave], the train has passed.

"A player can't leave during the development process. When I was 16 I didn't want to leave. I felt that I was in the best place I could possibly be. If Chelsea or [Manchester] United came in for me, I would have said no."

Currently playing for Qatari club Al-Sadd, the 37-year-old revealed that he will retire next year and wants to return back to the Camp Nou to solve this problem.

Xavi suggested he wants to take charge of the academy graduates and make sure they prepare themselves available for the first team football.

"Barcelona need to nurture their own homegrown players," he said.

"They can't leave like this. Playing in the first team has never been easy. I had a tough time getting there and getting settled in the time."

"Right now there are players like [Carles] Alena, Marlon [Santos] and [Marc] Cucurella who are showing potential. But it's difficult to be a top player at 19."

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