The Espanyol youth academy has installed a permanent height scanner at its entrance and this week refused entry to Marc Pubill, the Atlético defender and world champion, because at 1,90 metres he exceeded the club's newly codified maximum permitted height by eleven centimetres.
«The system is calibrated for players between 1,62 and 1,79 metres,» said academy director Josep Ferrán, standing beside the steel arch as a queue of nine-year-olds was measured twice, once in socks and once in boots. «Pubill is a fine athlete, but he is simply too tall for our methodology. We wish him well elsewhere.»
The scanner, purchased after a season-long review, now operates from seven in the morning until ten at night. Boys who clear the arch are issued a green wristband; those who do not are escorted to a side gate and handed a leaflet listing local clubs with no height policy. Three families have already moved house to be nearer the side gate, according to the club's own relocation desk.
Pubill, who was released by Espanyol as a teenager for being too short, arrived at the academy on Tuesday to collect a former team-mate's boots. He was measured, found oversized, and asked to wait in a designated area for players above the limit. He waited forty minutes, signed nothing, and left through the main entrance after ducking.
«We are correcting a historical inconsistency,» Ferrán added. «In 2017 we rejected him for being small. Today we reject him for being large. The club is nothing if not thorough.»
Espanyol confirmed that the scanner will be extended to the first-team dressing room next month, with any player over 1,79 metres required to train in a separate, lower-ceilinged hall.