KOLKATA: Pedro González López, more commonly known as 'Pedri,' arrived at FC Barcelona in the summer of 2020 from La Liga side UD Las Palmas and hit the ground running.
Touted as a prodigious talent but still perhaps a little young to be a breakout star on arrival, nobody in the Catalan club's squad played in more La Liga matches than the Canary Islander last season.
He played 37 matches for his new club, starting 28 of them. The only match he didn't feature in was on the final day of the season against SD Eibar, when Ronald Koeman decided there was nothing to play for.
Remarkably, his then-colleague Lionel Messi placed a lot of confidence in Pedri too, with the Argentine giving the teenager his seal of approval by consistently feeding him the ball. Everybody around the club felt that special connection very quickly. But he didn't connect just with the former Blaugrana number '10'.
In his first season, Pedri performed whenever he stepped out on the pitch, completing 1,485 passes as well as scoring three goals and assisting another three.
Away at Athletic Club, Pedri became the youngest player to score and assist in the same La Liga match, doing so aged just 18 and 42 days.
His performances over the last two seasons have seen his profile sky-rocket, so much so that he's become the latest in a long line of prodigious talents to win the Golden Boy award, recognising the best player under 21 in world football.
He followed in the footsteps of the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Joao Felix, Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland.
There's no doubt that the 19-year-old can lead Barca's midfield for years to come, and also the Spain national team after his head-turning performance during Euro 2020, where he was even awarded as the Best Young Player.
"I've never seen anything like what Pedri has done, not even from 'Sir' Andres Iniesta," said national team coach Luis Enrique after Spain's heart-breaking semi final defeat to Italy.
