It helps that Barcelona have a decades long reputation as one of Europe's best clubs in their favour*. The thing is though if we are going to be a club that is on their level (or even beyond) we need to be willing (financial, ambition etc.) to do whatever it takes (legally of course) to encourage such players to to join us instead. Otherwise we will never be able to break the monopoly the established clubs (domestically and in Mainland Europe) has over the best players in the game.
*What many of our rival fans (those who moan about how much we spend on players) need to understand that to attract the best youth players you need to be a major club in the first place and in turn the only way that is possible these days in the Football Leagues of Europe is though such investment (for better or worse).
