Euro 2020: Spain teenager Pedri on the right path to superstardom

 

As Italy celebrated their semi-final success over Spain on Tuesday night, there was one name on everyone's lips - Pedri. Inside 90 minutes, the teenage Barcelona star attempted 55 passes and found a teammate with every single one. While extra time came and went, and it saw his pass success rate drop to 97%, Pedri gave another example of why he is destined for greatness. 

 

It was a little over a year ago that Pedri's move to Barcelona from Las Palmas was made official. Two years ago, aged just 16, he hadn't even signed a professional contract with Pepe Mel's side. It spoke volumes, though, that Mel, a seasoned traveller as both a player and manager, would be prepared to promote Pedri to the first team despite his tender years. 

 

 

When Pedri moved to Camp Nou last summer, few expected the young midfielder to have such an impact with the Blaugrana. Granted, Barcelona can't call upon the triumvirate of Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, the trio dominating world football in their prime, but the La Liga powerhouse still had the likes of Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Miralem Pjanic, three renowned superstars, on their books. 

 

The latter rarely got a look in under Ronald Koeman last season, making just six league starts as rumours of a summer exit continue to circulate, in part due to Pedri's mature performances in the middle of the park. And his form in a Barcelona shirt was culminated in a starting spot for Luis Enrique's Spain side this summer. 

 

Central midfield is an area Spain are well and truly blessed in. The trio of Pedri, Koke and Busquets, once the latter recovered from a bout of COVID-19, was Enrique's go to at Euro 2020, which saw Rodri, Thiago and Fabian Ruiz watch on. It's a testament to how well Pedri has developed over the last 12 months that Enrique would call upon Pedri in the middle of the park ahead of his more experienced compatriots. 

 

Enrique's decision was certainly justified and the Spain boss didn't hold back in his praise of the player following Spain's penalty shootout heartbreak. "But what Pedri has done in this tournament, at 18, no one has done, not even Andres Iniesta did that, it's incredible, unique," Enrique, who managed Iniesta for three years between 2014 and 2017, said of Pedri. 

 

That said, Pedri isn't an exact like-for-like successor for Iniesta on the international stage, but rather a fascinating hybrid between the Barcelona idol and the equally iconic Xavi. You won't see Pedri making the same runs forward as Iniesta was famed for, noted in that he averaged 1.1 successful dribbles per 90 in La Liga last season, admittedly with a success rate of 70.7%, so he is as difficult to shake off the ball as his famed compatriot when he does elect to break forward. 

 

 

Yet nor will you see Pedri sit to dictate tempo in the middle of the park, at least not at his age. The lowest pass success rate Xavi returned in a La Liga season since WhoScored started collecting data from 2009/10 was 90.4% in that very season, while his fewest passes per 90 came in 2014/15 (90.5). By way of comparison, Pedri returned a pass success rate of 87.7% from 62.7 passes per 90. While his key passes per 90 in 2020/21 (1.4) were lower than every league season Xavi played, the maestro was also largely on set-piece duties, which would inflate his numbers. 

 

Either way, it's impossible to label Pedri as the next Iniesta or Xavi, or any other legendary midfielder for that matter, mainly because he doesn't boast the same exact skillset as the pair of Barcelona and Spain heroes. Pedri expertly blends the best bits of both their games and the end product is a player who is set to take the footballing world by storm. 120 minutes at Wembley on Tuesday night really thrust Pedri into the spotlight following a solid debut La Liga season and after his introduction to the wider footballing world, the infancy of the 18-year-old's promising story is beginning to draw admirers across the globe.

Euro 2020: Spain teenager Pedri on the right path to superstardom