There are few journeys in Spanish football that feel more forbidden than the one from Barcelona to Real Madrid, or vice versa.
It is not always a direct road. Sometimes it runs through contract disputes, rejected renewals, foreign detours, reserve teams or years spent rebuilding a career elsewhere.
Irrespective of the circumstances, whenever a player shaped by Barça’s footballing school ends up wearing white, the story becomes more than a transfer.
Marc Cucurella is the latest name to open that conversation. Real Madrid have signed him from Chelsea on a six-year deal, adding another Barça academy product to that dreaded list.
Not every case is truly La Masia
The first thing to clarify is historical. Strictly speaking, not every player on this list is a La Masia graduate in the modern sense.
La Masia, as Barça’s famous residential academy, was formally established in 1979, with an old farmhouse later becoming the symbol of the club’s youth system.
🚨 LA MASIA PLAYERS WHO ENDED UP PLAYING FOR REAL MADRID
Alfonso Albéniz — 1902
Josep Samitier — 1933
Justo Tejada — 1961
Luis Milla — 1990
Albert Celades — 2000
Takefusa Kubo — 2019
Víctor Muñoz — 2021
Marc Cucurella — 2026 pic.twitter.com/O5BXs1jHdq
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) June 16, 2026
This matters when discussing early figures like Alfonso Albeniz, Josep Samitier and Justo Tejada.
They were Barça players, and in some cases youth or formative figures, but they did not pass through La Masia as we understand it today. All these cases occurred before 1962.
Still, the emotional logic remains the same: footballers with Barcelona roots later crossed into Real Madrid territory.
Albeniz was the original case. He was the first player to play for both Barça and Real Madrid, and also served as a director for Los Blancos later on.
Samitier was more seismic. He was not just a Barça player, he was one of the club’s first great icons, playing 504 matches and scoring 364 goals.
One of the players who defined the club in that era, his move to Madrid in 1933 was not just an academy story but a betrayal of gigantic proportions.
The modern academy departures
The more recognisable La Masia-to-Madrid pattern begins from 1990.
Luis Milla moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid in 1990 after a contract dispute, becoming one of the first notable cases of a Barça-trained midfielder switching to the Bernabeu.
Albert Celades followed a decade later. Another midfielder educated in the positional culture of Barça, he joined Madrid in 2000 and became part of a different footballing ecosystem.
Then came Takefusa Kubo, a different type of case. He was once one of La Masia’s most exciting foreign talents before FIFA sanctions forced his return to Japan.
Frenkie de Jong of Netherlands
Takefusa Kubo spent a few years at La Masia (Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images)
When Real Madrid signed him in 2019, it felt less like a direct betrayal and more like Madrid collecting a talent Barcelona had once lost control of.
Victor Munoz adds another modern wrinkle. He had spent some time in Barça’s academy before moving to Madrid in 2021 and even making his debut in an El Clasico in 2025, replacing Vinicius Jr.
Cucurella and the meaning of the list
Cucurella’s case is probably the cleanest and least direct transfer between the two clubs.
He developed at Barça, left in search of a clearer pathway, built himself up through Eibar, Getafe, Brighton and Chelsea, and has now arrived at Real Madrid as an established international left-back.
That is why the story should not be reduced to outrage. Cucurella did not leave Barça for Real Madrid as a teenager chasing revenge.
He left because Barça had other plans, and because football is full of careers that survive only when players accept detours.
The list is rare, but it also tells an uncomfortable truth: academy identity does not always decide future pathways.
Barcelona can produce the player. Real Madrid can still sign the man. Cucurella is not the first and is not going to be the last.
What the Catalan club can do is focus on their own players and their own talents, and not worry about things beyond their control.