Barcelona have appealed to the Spanish Football Association to help put a stop to teams from the Premier League swooping for their prized young talents.

Spanish clubs have seen swathes of young players abandon them in exchange for lucrative moves to clubs in the UK. Spanish law states that a player must be 18 before he can sign a professional contract with his respective club, whereas in the UK deals can be awarded to players as young as 17.

This scenario has seen may of Barcelona's highly-rated youngsters trade their continued development with the club for a professional deal with clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, a trend that has forced the Catalan giants to appeal to Spanish football's governing body to "support and defence of our rights against English clubs," the Daily Mirror report.

Sergi Canos, reputedly one of the brightest young talents to emerge from Barcelona's revered La Masia academy in recent years, has reportedly agreed to join Liverpool, following in the footsteps of Daniel Pacheco who made the same move in 2009.

Highly-rated attacking midfielder Suso made a similar move in 2010, although he would reject Real Madrid after leaving his boyhood club Cadiz for Merseyside on this occasion.

Arsenal infamously lured Cesc Fabregas away from the Nou Camp as a 16-year-old, and although he eventually returned to Cataluña it cost the club €29 million plus ad ons, after the Gunners paid just £700,000 in compensation for him in 2003.

Since then, Fran Merida, Hector Bellerin and Jon Toral have made the same move from Spain to England, much to the frustration of Barca.

16-year-old Julio Pleguezuelo could be the next to change countries, with Gunners having fended off interest from both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

The sight of another talent leaving the club before he has even made his debut has been enough to prompt the La Liga champions into action, with the club now ready to demand the loophole that has become the source of their woes be closed.

Real Madrid