Barcelona rubs their hands at the obvious talent of Ansu Fati, but in the offices of the Ciudad Deportiva de Sant Joan Despí they are also very proud for having secured the hiring of Pedri last summer. The coaches saw in the Canarian attacking midfielder the successor to Andrés Iniesta, who, curiously, is one of the football references for the international under 17s.

Barça paid Las Palmas five million euros this summer, although according to the leaders of the Canarian team they could reach 20 if all the variables included in the contract are met, for the signing of one of the national players with the greatest projection and future of the moment. At 16 years old, he is a fixture in the Second team and one of his most outstanding players. Like Ansu Fati, he is burning stages at a dizzying pace. Many teams saw him live last year and tested his incorporation, but finally it was Barcelona who took over his services. The main reason given by the members of the Sports Department for pushing so hard for him was devastating: he is the new Andrés Iniesta, and therefore he could not escape.

All the comparisons are hateful, but the coaches insist that they are two players with very similar profiles, and explain: both have a low center of gravity, have a quick reading and vision of the game, always demand the ball, have great association skills, driving skills, exquisite control of the ball, talent to move the ball... But also, they comment in the offices, he has a goal. In these ten games that he has played with Las Palmas, he has scored three goals.

Curiously, Pedri's main idol is the ex-culé, as he himself has acknowledged in the last few hours: "My greatest reference was Iniesta, but my father also put me videos of Laudrup". The man from La Mancha was the mirror in which he looked, the footballer from whom he learned and who he would like to be like. According to the culés technicians, he has achieved it.

Uncertain future

Barcelona signed him in the summer, but this season he is still on loan in Las Palmas, and he could still continue in the Canary Islands for another year as long as the Barça block, which gave him a clause of 100 million that will go up to 400 when he has a first team record, does not give him to a team that plays in a higher category than the yellow entity, the same as Barça B or becomes part of Ernesto Valverde's squad .

In that sense, Barcelona has not yet decided where Pedri's future will lead. What is clear is that he wants it on his payroll. I followed him before signing it and also now. The technicians review, satisfied, all the matches of Las Palmas and of the national team.