Brentford’s former Barcelona graduate seems to have found a spiritual home at Griffin Park and is looking forward to taking on Arsenal in the Carabao Cup
After reeling off a long list of La Masia alumni, Sergi Canós smiles before puffing his cheeks as he recalls life inside the goldfish bowl of Barcelona’s famed talent factory, having joined aged 13. “It was when [Pep] Guardiola won six trophies in a season,” he says. “It was amazing because La Masia became ‘Wow, La Masia’. And we were living in La Masia. I laugh now but we used to look out of the windows of the rooms and you would see the tourist bus. Everyone was taking photos because it became where Messi used to live, where Iniesta used to live, Busquets, Piqué, Puyol, Valdés.”
These days, Canós plays for a team some dub the Barcelona of the Championship: Brentford. The winger dismisses such a comparison but admits there are shades of his Spanish schooling in Dean Smith’s side, who visit Arsenal in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday. After a 2-0 win over Wigan this month, the club’s owner, Matthew Benham, tweeted the words “liquid football”. Canós chuckles.
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