From being fired from Espanyol to playing in the Champions League in just three years

BarcelonaAïcha Camara, Clara Serrajordi, Ainoa Gómez, Martine Fenger, Lúa Arufe and Carla Julià. These are the young footballers who have made their debuts in La Liga and/or Europe with Barça this season. Six players who demonstrate the good work being done at La Masia and who have gained prominence due to the lack of depth in the squad and the absences of recent weeksEach one has a different story behind it, like that of Carla Julià (Barcelona, ​​2006), whom Damm rescued after she was kicked out of Espanyol for "sporting reasons", as sources close to the footballer have explained to ARA.

The full-back has played minutes in the last five games with Barça, starting in the starting eleven in two of them. Furthermore, she also scored her first goal in the F League in the Catalan derby against Badalona WomenHer former team, since Julià is not one of the players who came up through the Barcelona youth system. The Barcelona native signed with the reserve team this summer for the next two seasons, until 2027. With practically no time to earn a place, Pere Romeu integrated her into the first team. Despite playing minutes in the Copa Catalunya, she made her league debut on November 9th, in the 8-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruña. Before that, however, she already had experience playing in the top flight with Badalona.

Having trained at Dani Jarque's academy, Julià was released by Espanyol in the summer of 2022. This was a tough blow for Julià, who saw her dream of reaching the elite level come to a halt, until Damm came along. The Barcelona-based club—a benchmark for Catalan youth football—took a chance on her. "When these things happen, it's important to make the players feel valued again, so they don't see it as a step backward. Carla needed someone to tell her she was very good and to be able to prove it on the pitch. She has a lot of personality, and when she got the ball back, she brought out her best again," Carles Domènech, head of player relations, told ARA.

Back in the spotlight of the big teams

But as is often the case, the big fish always eats the little fish. And this has been a constant throughout Carla Julià's career. Her outstanding performances with the Barcelona team attracted the interest of a top-flight club, in this case Badalona Women (at that time, Levante Les Planes). The Badalona club approached her at the beginning of 2023, and Damm, exceptionally, let the player leave mid-season. "We agreed to let her go thinking about what was best for her; they made her an offer with the promise of playing in the First Division," Domènech explains. Damm received no financial compensation for this transfer; it was an altruistic decision. But what no one expected was that Julià would finish the 2022-23 season without playing a single minute. A bureaucratic issue prevented the player from being registered with her new team, so she couldn't play any matches until the start of the new season, when she debuted with Badalona's reserve team. "When we signed her, we had many discussions with the sporting director, Ferran Cabello, because he saw her more as a full-back and I saw her as a winger. This versatility helps her, since at Barça she starts as a full-back, but spends the whole match attacking, a Rolfö type of player," explains Micky Ollé, with whom she played at Badalona.

After many months of waiting, the day of her debut in the Women's League finally arrived. It happened, coincidentally, as a starter against Barça on January 6, 2024, at the Johan Cruyff Stadium. "She didn't have enough confidence to make her debut, but it helped her consolidate her position more quickly, mature, and be better prepared," confesses Ollé, who emphasizes her eagerness to understand tactics. "She's a very proactive player who wants to know, asks questions, and contributes ideas during the match, which is why she's fit in so well at Barça, because she can play in a thousand different ways and she's intelligent."

His adaptation to the wing

Her hard work and perseverance are now paying off with the playing time Pere Romeu is giving her. Those close to her say she's adapting very well to her full-back position and is working on her physical and defensive skills. Carla Julià, they say, is "on cloud nine," as she didn't expect to debut so quickly, which has been a pleasant surprise. Her family, moreover, keeps her grounded. "She's received a good upbringing from her parents, who have always instilled in her values ​​based on humility. Values ​​that are evident on the pitch and in her excellent relationship with the coaching staff," Ollé points out. The current coach of Badalona's reserve team says that Julià, despite being shy, "has something different about her," both in terms of personality and her distinctive style of dress.