On Saturday, FC Barcelona won its fourth UEFA Champions League title, the second it has earned in the past three years. The victory cemented the club's place at the pinnacle of European football, with many -- Yahoo!'s own Martin Rogers among them -- calling the current Barcelona incarnation the greatest club team ever assembled.
Of course, the trick with Barcelona is that its top team is as much built from within as it is assembled, thanks to its youth development program, the pride of the organization. And now, for the first time, an American is joining that very outlet. According to a variety of sources (but first reported by the website BarcaLoco and soccer blog 3four3), Southern Californian Ben Lederman -- a 10-year-old who visited and worked out at the club's La Masia training complex in April -- signed a two-year development contract with the club's youth academy.
The American soccer prodigy, whose style of play and precocious ball control skills have drawn comparisons to Barcelona star Andres Iniesta (you can see him in action wearing number 10 below), accepted the team's offer, with his future in Catalonia to be reevaluated after his initial two-year stay at the club. His parents are also reportedly moving to Barcelona to be closer to their son as he continues his soccer development abroad.[/p]
