Barcelona midfield gem goes on short vacation 75 matches later

Barcelona’s highly acclaimed young midfielder Pedri has finally been given a much-deserved two-week vacation after a long season.

The Canary Islander signed for the Blaugrana from Las Palmas just over a year ago in a bargain of a transfer deal. During his early days at Catalonia, the midfielder was linked to loan moves out of the club to continue his development.

365 days later, however, Pedri is probably the new face and ambassador of Barcelona’s young team. The 18-year-old played the most number of games by any player in Europe’s top five leagues last season, an accomplishment seldom achieved at a tender age.

The young gem played 37 of Barcelona’s 38 league games last season while starting 28 of them. Over the year, he became an irreplaceable part of the Catalan midfield playing in a variety of positions as asked of him.

His season also included seven Champions League appearances and six in the Copa del Rey. His season did not end in May, however, as he was called up by Luis Enrique to represent Spain at the Euros.

One did not expect the young midfielder to get many minutes at the European Championship ahead of some of world football’s biggest names. Yet, the 18-year-old started every single game for La Roja, completing a ridiculous 630 minutes for his National Team.

While the football world took a break after the Euros, Pedri went on to play in the Olympics and guided his country to a silver medal finish in Tokyo. It demanded an additional 558 minutes from his legs. However, his magical feet never seemed to tire.

The youngster came back from the Olympics and directly rejoined training with Barcelona. He played a key role in both of the Catalans games in the league so far. It is only now that Pedri can finally breathe a sigh of relief and take a few days to himself.

His vacation will be for at least two weeks, though it could be extended longer. Ronald Koeman has talked to Luis Enrique about the teenager’s situation. If Enrique agrees to give his star midfielder a rest in the coming international break, the Canary Islander can enjoy a few weeks more to himself.

Stats via Transfermarkt