DBasia.news – Since transferring from Las Palmas in 2020 for five million euros, Pedri’s career has seen a significant rise at Barcelona, which has made him be compared to Barcelona legend, Andres Iniesta.
Only 18 years old, Pedri has good ball control, vision of play and good technique. Another plus is his calmness in playing at such a young age. No doubt Luis Enrique was tempted to bring him to the Spanish national team at the 2020 European Cup.
At the Euro 2020 event, Pedri became an irreplaceable player in the Spanish midfield. La Furia Roja reached the semifinals but ended up losing to the European Cup winners Italy. Even so, Pedri’s impressive performance made him the Best Young Player of the tournament.
“I’ve never seen a young player with talent like Pedri, especially the things he does on the pitch. Even Iniesta doesn’t have this good talent,” said Enrique of Pedri.
Not long after participating in the 2020 European Cup, Pedri played for the Spanish team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Barcelona could not prevent him from participating in the Olympics which were supposed to take place last year.
Barcelona’s Risk
The journey of last season, the 2020 European Cup, then the 2020 Olympics where Pedri has played one match against Egypt which ended in a goalless draw. That means it will be a non-stop season for Pedri since September 2020.
With Barcelona, the Spanish national team and the Spanish team, Pedri has played 66 matches. This means that Pedri has played 321 days without a break and an average of one game every five days.
“I understand the passion that players have, but the calendar (matches) is very tight and we have to be careful with them,” said Barcelona coach, Ronald Koeman looking at two major tournaments (plus the Copa America) in the summer of 2021.
Last season Pedri played 52 times for Barcelona: 37 in LaLiga, six in the Copa del Rey, two in the Spanish Super Cup and seven in the Champions League. As for Spain, Pedri played four times in the u-21 team and nine times in the senior team at the 2020 European Cup.
Now he has played one match with Spain at the Tokyo Olympics. Even though he is only 18 years old, the situation can cause Pedri fatigue and at risk of injury, not to mention the mentality of players due to lack of rest and vacations.
If Spain advance far in the Olympics then Pedri can only return to Barcelona in early August. Barcelona will of course give him two weeks off, but that won’t necessarily be enough for the player who has traveled all the way from Europe to Japan.
Although in the current Olympic team there are two teammates, Eric Garcia and Oscar Mingueza, the conditions are different. Garcia barely played for Manchester City last season despite appearing at the European Cup, while Mingueza had taken a break before appearing at the Olympics.
It will be interesting to see how Barcelona handles Pedri after the Tokyo Olympics.