In a week of international friendly matches, for which coaches called up new faces to defend their countrys colours, there remained a common thread of youthful exuberance. Featuring a number of up-and-coming players, national team coaches provided an opportunity for the next generation of the worlds best to prove their worth on the global stage. In Spain, Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets - yet two more exceptional youth products to come out of the Barcelona system - were called up to defend La Roja. Selección coach Vicente del Bosque even chose Piqué to start the high-profile Spain vs. England friendly, leaving the already-established Carlos Marchena to warm the bench. Although the Barcelona No. 3 looked a bit shaky in some stretches of the match, he appears to be well on his way to serving as the future replacement for the solid, but aging, Carles Puyol.

With one of the best farming systems in the world, Barcelonas youth program has yielded some the best players in the game. Considering some of the worlds stars that developed their football in Catalunya, the list is an impressive one: Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Bojan, Piqué, Busquets, Fabregas, and Pepe Reina, among others. Whats more impressive is the fact that all of these players, save Fabregas and Reina, still play at Barcelonamany of them integral cogs in Pep Guardiolas attacking machine and, in the case of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, and Puyol, pivotal players for their club and respective national teams. 

Perhaps its the clubs commitment to its youth system, or perhaps its phenomenal scouting. Maybe its the Gaudí architecture, or maybe its just something in the tapas. One way or another, Barcelona have not only been able to develop some of the best talent in football, but they have, more importantly, been able to retain a bulk of that talent for promotion to the first team. Whats more, many of those players grow into the very best at their position. For current Barcelona players, Puyol could well be the best defender in the world, Xavi tops the list as the most creative architect in midfield, and Messiwell, if there are still some doubts about his status as the worlds best player at 21 years of age, surely in a few years those will evaporate. 

In Real Madrids case, however, the philosophy of youth development leaves much to be desired. While Los Blancos have successfully scouted exceptional players with enormous potential, the club has utterly failed in grooming those players to transition for positions in the first team. The list of Madrid youths who've had to seek alternative addresses to realise their potential is woefully long: Samuel Etoo (now of Barcelona), Álvaro Arbeloa (now of Liverpool), Juan Mata (now of Valencia), Álvaro Negredo (now of Almería), Jurado (now of Mallorca), Esteban Granero (now of Getafealthough he does have a buy-back clause in his contract), and many more exemplify the exodus from Castilla, the Madrid second team.

During Florentio Pérezs galáctico era, a philosophy of Zidanes and Pavones was adopted, with the goal of spending large sums on the worlds best players (the Zidanes) and recovering the talent of the cantera (the Pavonesnamed for Castilla defender, Francisco Pavón). But the expectation for Madrid youth players to learn and play alongside from the worlds most famous blockbuster signings backfired; the squad instead became polarized and along with a merry-go-round of coaching changes, the team chemistry became volatile. 

It took Fabio Capellos second stint as Real Madrid coach to restore a sense of balance and order to the club, but the Italian was under such pressure to stabilize the rocking Bernabéu that youth players were allowed little time to gain a sturdy foothold in the first team. Instead, Madrid began to adopt a new strategy of adoption by taking on three relatively raw and unproven players in Marcelo, Gago, and Higuaín. Under Schuster, the cantera seemed to be allotted more opportunities for first team play (as winning a trophy does ease the pressure and allow for such risks to be taken), but the frustration with the development of Real Madrid Castilla continued to grow, culminating in the resignation of Castilla coach and former Madrid youth/first team legend, Míchel, who cited irreconcilable differences with Madrid management on the direction of Madrids youth system. Meanwhile, more youth products were adopted in the form of Drenthe, Huntelaar, and (next season) Garay.

Thus, in the absence of youth players coming up through the cantera, Madrid cultivated a class of transfer studentsyoung players who have shown promise elsewhereto form the next generation of Real Madrid. And slowly, but surely, the transfer students are beginning to adapt and score high marks. After a superb showing for Argentina at the summer Olympics, Gago has become a fixture in both the albiceleste and merengue midfields; Higuaín has shown he is a true marksman with a club-leading 13 goals; and despite frequent jeering from the Bernabéu faithful, Marcelo put on a show in the midweek friendly between Brazil and Italy. Playing with Holland in a midweek match against Tunisia, Madrids latest transfer student, Huntelaar, found the back of the net on a brilliant volley and, back in Madrid, Drenthe, who was chosen as the UEFA Player of the Tournament in the European U-21 Championships little more than a year and a half ago, scored an impressive free-kick in a friendly between the first team and Real Madrid Castilla. 

But as an upcoming regime change looms nearer in Madrid, the transfer students have come under a bit of fire. Higuaín and Gago seem to have successfully won fan favour, but the media, the pundits, and even the fans have ostracized players like Marcelo, Huntelaar, and Drenthe. Like them or not, it is important to remember that these players are effectively the new Madrid youth, and that despite the price tags, they are young and unpolished. They need the opportunity to grow with their team, but more urgently, these players need to be welcomed and supported by the fans as one of their own (à la Sergio Ramos, who despite being a Sevilla youth product, has successfully been afforded the Madrid identity to such a degree that he looks on his way to wearing the captains armband). 

Unlike the Barcelona youth system, which effectively has been allowed to raise the worlds best footballing talent, the Madrid youth system, despite enormous potential, has been given limited opportunities. The next generation of youth products seems promising and players like Rúben De la Red, Dani Parejo, Miguel Torres, Javi García, and Miguel Palanca will hope to fill the shoes of cantera icons Iker Casillas, Guti, and Raúl. But for now, good or bad, the Madrid youth consists of foreign exchange students. If the midweek friendly matches were a window into the extraordinary abilities of these players, with a bit of club and fan support, these players could quick be speaking the same footballing language that has made the Barcelona youth players so impressive.