Barcelona's gamble on youth is paying off, but will it last?

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick is preparing for his Champions League debut as Barcelona coach against Monaco on Thursday .

Flick admits that the "eureka!" moment when he promised that nothing would stop him one day becoming Barcelona coach was the night of March 21, 2006 .

The comparisons between that version of Barcelona and the current one couldn't be more stark.

Rijkaard 's team that night was a 23 year-old Brazilian , Thiago Motta , and the rest were mostly in their late 20s .

By the end of Barcelona 's 4-1 win at Girona on Sunday , Flick 's unused subs included an 18-year-old goalkeeper.

How does Barcelona 's youth system keep finding and developing such gems when La Masia suffers cutbacks and constant changes of coaches? Good scouting and the allure of the brand name are the keys.

Why, then, does the club, at regular intervals, spend so atrociously badly in the transfer market that they're over 1 billion in debt? Greed , vanity and stupidity, in my opinion, says Nano Nano .

Nano 's Barcelona experience is a metaphor for Arteta , Sergio Garcia , Bojan Krkic , André Onana , Cesc Fabregas , Gerard Pique , Dani Olmo and Xavi Simons.