The winter of 2011 brought the most significant transition in Mateo's football career as he began training occasionally with Barcelona B, the reserve team that served as the final stepping stone to his professional football in Barcelona.
At fourteen years old, he was younger than any player who had previously been invited to train with the reserve team, but his extraordinary development had convinced the coaching staff that conventional age restrictions no longer applied to his unique case.
The decision to promote Mateo to occasional training with Barcelona B had been debated extensively among the academy directors and coaching staff.
Traditional development pathways at La Masia followed strict age-based progressions, with players advancing through clearly defined stages that corresponded to their physical and emotional maturity. Mateo's case challenged these established protocols in ways that required careful consideration and unprecedented flexibility.
