Opinion: 17-year-old Pedri emerging as Barcelona’s newest star

Posted by

At just 17 years of age, Pedri has his entire footballing career ahead of him.

If Barcelona have their way, the majority if not all of that time will be spent at the Camp Nou.

In the handful of games that he’s played already for the blaugranes, he, with the possible exception of El Clasico, has been sensational.

Against Juventus in Wednesday night’s Champions League tie, he didn’t look overawed at any point, and even seasoned professionals such as Juan Cuadrado were bamboozled by Pedri’s skill set time and again.

One particular passage of play in the first half told us everything we needed to know about the youngster.

Under pressure when bringing the ball out of defence, the midfielder resorted to a Bergkamp-esque double dragback to get his team out of trouble.

Nothing seems to faze him on the football pitch, and he’s certainly no respecter of reputations.

It might be far too early to label him as the new Iniesta, but it’s clear that Barca have another magician on their hands.

On this form, no wonder he’s holding his own in Ronald Koeman’s starting XI. If he can maintain it throughout the season whilst adding a degree of physicality to his game, Barca really will have the full package.

More Stories Dennis Bergkamp Juan Cuadrado pedri pedri gonzalez