Excellent control! The original scouting report on 14-year-old Xavi revealed >>>

Xavi Hernandez secured his place as one of Barcelona's truly great players and a scouting report on the midfielder from when he was just 14 shows how highly he was thought of by coaches.

He entered the club's academy system when he was 11 years old and left the club over two decades later.

The Catalan has become one of the clearest examples of how much a player can improve from when they first step through the doors at the club to the day they leave.

As part of Cristian Martin's book 'La Masia: Developing people beyond sport', the aforementioned scouting report on Xavi is published in full.

Running: He runs on his heels, his movements are slow and he has trouble picking up speed.

Balance: Average

Coordination: Good. His movements are correct, but lack speed.

Flexibility: Average. He needs a lot of work in this regard.

Skill: Good, without it being his forte. He has the resources in his game to take advantage of any situation.

Fitness: Good. He has everything a good midfielder should.

Muscle endurance: Good.

Speed: Average. He has to improve his agility and speed of movement.

Starting Speed: Average

Rapid strength: Average

Control: Excellent. He offsets his lack of speed in movement with exceptional ball control.

Passing: Very good. He should improve with his left foot, but this is his great strength on the pitch.

Crossing: Good. He is almost never forced into this action.

Shooting: Acceptable. He should improve this for when he gets forward in attack, like Guardiola.

Running: Very good. He has a good sense of protecting the ball, he almost never loses it.

Dribbling: Good. Without being his best asset, his technical level is impressive.

Positioning: Excellent. It is undoubtedly his best quality. He is always where he should be and always offers support and an option for teammates.

Aggression: Average. His eminently technical style sometimes makes this aspect difficult to judge.