Academy players in the limelight during pre-season

The 20 LaLiga Santander outfits are busy preparing for the coming campaign and many of them are drawing on a large number of academy youngsters and recent youth-team graduates during the pre-season. The importance of giving these players the chance to cut their teeth and gain experience, coupled with the delay in many first-team squad members reporting back for duty following their international commitments, has enabled a constellation of starlets to seize the opportunity to strut their stuff.

The Sevilla FC development set-up has taken a huge step forward thanks to Sevilla Atletico's promotion to the LaLiga 1|2|3. The latter will be the only youth side in LaLiga this term and new first-team boss Jorge Sampaoli was quick to take some of their fledgling talents under his wing in pre-season. The need to keep kicking on as they look to adjust seamlessly to the rigours of a demanding second division, not to mention the possibility of them having to reinforce the senior squad over the course of the season, were among the reasons why a total of six youth-teamers joined the Europa League champions on their LaLiga World tour of Orlando, in the USA.

The #SevillaFC squad before boarding the train to Hamburg  #vamosmisevilla pic.twitter.com/GIT8OybAbj

— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) July 29, 2016

Goalkeeper Jose Antonio Caro, Jose Matos, Carlos Fernandez, Ivi, Antonio Cotan and Diego Gonzalez were all in Orlando, while some of them also travelled with the first team to Germany, where Borja Lasso entered the fray and made waves in the match against St. Pauli.

Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid have also handed their academy graduates a shot at staking their claim. With established figures such as Dani Carvajal, Alvaro Morata, Lucas Vazquez, Kiko Casilla and Nacho to take inspiration from, several Castilla players enjoyed productive outings in the club's tune-up games in North America.

If there's one Los Blancos player who has managed to make the most of his opportunity it's Dominican striker Mariano, who scored a fantastic goal against Chelsea, causing the footballing world to sit up and take notice. As well as the 23-year-old Dominican, Martin Odegaard, Achraf Hakimi, Aleix Febas, Marcos Llorente, Enzo Zidane, Ruben Yañez and Philipp Lienhart have shown their abilities under the watchful eye of coach Zizou.

Although Luis Enrique's FC Barcelona have only played one pre-season fixture so far, a whole host of youth-team players were given the nod in this match. Making the biggest impression was Denis Suarez, who has been welcomed back to the Catalan giants with open arms after successful spells at Sevilla and Villarreal CF. Fellow youngsters Sergi Samper, Juan Camara, Gerard Gumbau, Marlon, Rafa Mujica, Alex Carbonell, Jesus Alfaro, Carles Aleña, Borja Nili, Jose Antonio Martinez and Jose Aurelio Suarez also saw game time against Celtic, as did the somewhat more seasoned Aleix Vidal, who spent part of his youth career with the Azulgranas.

Denis Suárez and nine from Barça B make first team debuts in #ICC2016 against @celticfc https://t.co/GpLuvsJ2gf pic.twitter.com/GPKvZr6gOn

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 30, 2016 

Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid side featured a big number of academy players in their second match in the LaLiga World series in Australia, led by French brothers Lucas and Theo Hernandez, who played alongside one another in defence. Despite Atletico failing to record a victory, the young guns impressed and were praised by their Argentinian manager for their efforts.

Buen trabajo a pesar del resultado. Un orgullo lucir el brazalete del @Atleti #AúpaAtleti #LaLigaWorld #VICATM  pic.twitter.com/LWBiAb2EcX

— Lucas Hernández (@lucas5hernandez) July 31, 2016

Galician giants RC Celta and RC Deportivo have also handed their academy graduates opportunities to shine – Diego Alende, David Costas, Pape Cheikh and Brais Mendez for the Vigo outfit, and Pinchi for Deportivo.

These aren't the only home-grown players who have had the chance this summer to show they are more than capable of playing for the first team. Villarreal's Pablo Larrea has performed well in the friendly matches when selected by boss Marcelino, as has Oscar Gil for Athletic Club and 18-year-old Joel Sanabria, who made his debut last weekend for R. Sporting, a club with a reputation for looking after their youth stars. A lot of the aforementioned players are taking their first steps with the senior team, and it's a safe bet to say that for many of them this will be the start of a long and successful career.