La Masia has been a hunting ground for Real Betis for two years

Real Betis will take to the field at the Camp Nouwith three players in Cristian Tello, Marc Bartra and Tonny Sanabria, that came through the famed Barcelona's La Masia, and it shows that the famed youth academy has been a successful hunting ground for them.

Added to those players is youngster Wilfrid Kaptoum who has not been included in the list.

This has been the situation over the past two years ever since the arrival of Sanabria, having come to Betis via Roma, started the trend, but it has gathered momentum since Lorenzo Serra Ferrer joined the Andalusian club in 2017.

Serra Ferrer knows Barcelona well from his time as coach and youth football director. He is aware of how the players are coached and which players from the first team could be looking to move on.

In his first year at Betis he brought in Tello after long negotiations with Barcelona, then in came Bartra from Dortmund and finally Kaptoum arrived from the Barcelona youth team with Samuel Eto'o involved in the deal.

Last summer Serra Ferrer made other attempts to bring in players from the Catalan side with Denis Suarez, Alcacer and Rafinha on his radar. At the same time he is following the progress closely of Miranda who left Betis to join Barcelona's youth system.