Today’s thread and article is dedicated to Barça’s latest wonder kid, one that all football fans and particular Culés around the world will soon get to know very well.
Here we give you an idea of why Pepe Mel has described the Spaniard as the next Iniesta!
Here we give you an idea of why Pepe Mel has described the Spaniard as the next Iniesta!
Name: Pedro Gonzalez Lopes “Pedri”
Age: 17
DOB: 25/02/2002
Team: Las Palmas (LaLiga. 2), recently signing at Barcelona for €5 million.
Position: Attacking Midfielder
Nationality: 🇪🇸
Minutes Played this season: 2483
Goals and Assists: 3 Goals, 5 Assists
Age: 17
DOB: 25/02/2002
Team: Las Palmas (LaLiga. 2), recently signing at Barcelona for €5 million.
Position: Attacking Midfielder
Nationality: 🇪🇸
Minutes Played this season: 2483
Goals and Assists: 3 Goals, 5 Assists
This thread looks to give the key ideas about Pedri’s strengths and profile with some video aids. To read our in-depth analysis visit the link below 😃👇👇👇
#Pedri is an attacking midfielder who plays in a free roam position, he likes to occupy central areas or the left-hand half space. He wants the ball as much as possible and drops deep or plays in between the lines to link play with the forwards
The licence to free roam does not apply for when Las Palmas are out of possession. In this case, Pedri must work hard to make sure he returns to his station on the left hand flank of the 4-4-2 defensive structure.
Pedri is a creative playmaker. His Expected Goals Assisted places him in the 84th percentile for the league which demonstrates to us that he consistently creates high quality chances for his teammates.
Since the departure of Jonathan Vieira, Pedri has been the primary playmaker in the team, his importance to chance creation is the reason why Pepe Mel has trusted and relied so much in him.
If we also observe the Box Cross % we can deduce that Pedri is creating a lot of his opportunities in the area via open play as opposed to set pieces and crosses, which is highly positive.
It is great to watch his fearlessness and constant desire to provide a creative spark and create high quality chances. At such a young age Pedri is already demonstrating outstanding vision and awareness of his teammates runs and movements 👇👇👇
The difficulty of the pass does not faze Pedri, they do not always work but in that split decision he saw an opportunity and he grabbed it. The weight of pass on the first clip is outstanding, he was 16 during that particular game!
He provides a verticality and creative element which has been so important for Las Palmas and is something that in recent games has been lacking from the Barcelona midfield.
We see in these examples above the types of positions Pedri is occupying, his rotational play and positioning gives him the space to lift his head up and make these great goalscoring opportunities. These are high quality chances being created from a variety of positions.
He often finds himself being aggressively pressed and surrounded by the opposition team as they recognise the danger of allowing him too much space to operate in. Pedri uses his low centre of gravity, sharp change of direction and quick foot work to evade danger.
Pedri has the flair and excitement which will have Barça fans on the edge of their seats. Take a look at this outrageous piece of skill and composure to find his teammate 🤩 👇👇👇
He carries the ball well and is good at protecting it by the way he manipulates his body and has good close control. Here, he notices that he’s surrounded and rather than go for broke and risk a dangerous counter, turns back on himself to essentially recycle the phase of play...
... He does not stop here though, he sees a gap to exploit through his spatial awareness and drives at the heart of the opposition. It didn’t lead to a chance because he lacked support but what makes this attack so great is that he is direct and aggressive with his intent.
Pedri’s verticality and dribbling skill set reminds me of reading these quotes by Pep Guardiola. He’s the type of player who Pep would love to coach, an inside forward or midfielder who commits men and causes a nuisance to the opposition through verticality and spatial awareness
If we refer back to the Stats Bomb radar, we see that Pedri is ranked in the 96th percentile for pressure regains, what does this mean? Well, it shows us that Pedri presses a lot and is largely very effective at it...
Phase 1- Ball moving out wide is the trigger for Pedri to close down the receiver as fast as possible. Phase 2- Pedri shadow presses and blocks the passing option behind him, the rest of the team are covering all other passing options, leading to a turnover.
Pedri is not a natural goal scorer, as discussed already he is the playmaker who is creating opportunities rather than someone who is finishing chances or getting into the positions to score. His long shots are generally quite tame and lack power.
Physically Pedri is understandably a fairly lean guy still, he has shown good protection of the ball and offensively his balance and sharp movement has meant it has not been a huge issue.
Much has been said about Barca’s future post Messi, with recent anguish about the Arthur sale leading to lots of criticism to the board. However, the future of Barça is still bright and players like Pedri, Puig, Fati and Trincao will hopefully steer the ship to great success.
I’ve loved watching Pedri over the past week, he has been one of the key players for Las Palmas this season and I’m sure he will be a success in a few years for Barça. [End]
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, please like, RT, and make sure to follow us for more content! 😃
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, please like, RT, and make sure to follow us for more content! 😃
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Hope you guys can take a read and any feedback is much appreciated 😃
Hope you guys can take a read and any feedback is much appreciated 😃
