Player Talent Scout: Pedri

There was a time not too long ago when Barcelona’s academy, La Masia was the world’s greatest football talent factory. Although Messi, Pique, Busquets, Alba and Sergio Roberto are still at the club, only Ansu Fati of the recent graduates has really been able to make an impact in the first team squad.

Barca have gone through a period in recent years of spending big money on established players like Griezmann and Coutinho, moving away from their reputation of producing incredible young players and blooding them in the first team.

One youngster the club have signed recently is Pedro González López, known as Pedri, who was signed by Barcelona for next season as a 16 year-old with just three first team appearances for Las Palmas in Spain’s Segunda División.

Now 17, Pedri has been a first team regular for Las Palmas this season and with experience for Spain at youth level, he will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow Canary Islanders David Silva and Pedro Rodriguez and become a future star for the full Spanish national team.

Pedri is similar in style to one of the all time greats, Andrés Iniesta. He plays from the left but is more of a playmaker than a traditional winger, and his future probably lies as a central or attacking midfielder.

Pedri gets about the pitch well but it is his creativity, intelligence in and out of possession and his dribbling ability that catches the eye. He will join Barca in the summer with a full season of first team football under his belt, and it remains to be seen whether he will be a part of the first team squad, the B team or move on loan to a La Liga club where he can continue his development.

Barca will be hoping that he can join the likes of Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati in becoming key players for Barca in the future as they look to refresh their ageing squad and get back to the very top of European football.