Pablo Martín Páez Gavira, Gavi (19 years old, Los Palacios y Villafranca, Sevilla), is a unique footballer. On the pitch, he combines technical finesse with immense will, a combination rarely seen in midfielders: you’re either a head or a lung, but rarely both. Off the field he is still an unknown. Out of shyness he preferred to gain confidence with the word before making himself known. The club sees him ready. He grants La Vanguardia his first long interview. The first answers are short but when he warms up and gains confidence he lets go. It’s hard not to fall in love with him. It sounds genuine in a world of mechanized phrases. Pure and unadulterated, like when he plays.
More than a hundred matches at Barça and few interviews; don’t you like them?
It’s because of shyness, and also because I like to focus more on football, but I’m improving in this aspect, I know I have to.
Are you aware of the fan phenomenon unleashed around Gavi?
A little yes, I notice it on the street and on Instagram, but I try to isolate myself from all that.
What do you like to hear most about yourself?
That I’m a shy guy, but good person with everyone. This is how I want to be valued.
Score a goal and kiss the shield. How come he is so cool, having been born in a town in Seville?
I want to see the best team in history, the Barça of Xavi, Iniesta and company. Since then I have been with Barça and always will be.
He arrived at Barça very young, at the age of 11. Were you afraid of moving?
Yes, a lot. I remember that two months before I told my parents that I didn’t want to come, that I was afraid of what would happen to me. Today I thank my parents, they were the first to make it clear that they had to take me here.
What was he afraid of?
Everything, the farmhouse… I was very small and I didn’t want to leave my village, to be separated from my friends. It was completely life changing.
And it turns out that the Masia ends up being his home…
Yes, I’ve spent my whole childhood here, almost since I’ve been conscious, it’s all for me.
The first six months were difficult because of the FIFA sanction on Barça. Gavi, aged 11, and unable to play. Hard to imagine. A caged lion.
I couldn’t stand not playing, it’s like breathing for me, so I fixed it as best I could. I decided to sign up for a futsal league at the school where I was studying.
How lucky for your team. They should have won it all…
He scored four or five goals in each game. We won everything except the day we played the League.
What happened?
That day I played my first game with Barça. I couldn’t go there. My schoolmates still reproach me for it.
The first year he lived in Barcelona with his parents…
Yes, in Carrer Balmes, but after a year I told them to leave in peace. That I wanted to live in the farmhouse.
Which players did you idolize then?
Especially Iniesta, but also Isco and Verratti.
The most technical. You dominate both legs. Did he learn it or does it come naturally to him?
As a child I was already like this. In fact, I always say that inside the area I shoot better with the left, I define better that way, it comes naturally to me.
Let’s make it clear: you are an insider.
I’ve always been, inside left.
Now he plays more there.
Xavi already knows where I’m most comfortable, but he always trusts me a lot and in every game he decides where I play, and I try to do well for the coach. give everything
He dominates both legs, is good in duels, also with the head… Is there any facet in which he sees room for improvement?
Compared to last year, I have improved when it comes to interrupting the time of the plays, also when it comes to going to split balls without making so many mistakes.
Is it his or Xavi’s?
Xavi tries to improve me, he talks to me a lot.
Aren’t you afraid of ever getting hurt in split balls?
Sometimes I review the replayed match, I see myself in some action and I think: “Woah, how did I come up with this?”. But my mother suffers more than me, she always tells me not to get into fights and she gets very scared. But in the end it’s football.
Is he considered tough as a footballer?
I consider myself a fighter, to the end, and I will never lose that.
Last year, from Madrid, he shut down a campaign that categorized him as an excessively hard player. Did it reach him? Did it bother him?
I was aware of it, but I was calm. Xavi helped me and I didn’t care what certain people said.
What is indisputable is that it is very bad to lose…
Well, I have improved compared to the lower categories. Any coach could tell you that…
But what was he doing? Not knowing how to lose isn’t so bad…
Let’s just say that I behaved quite badly and my teammates paid for it in training. I was losing my mind, it was very bad to lose.
What would he be able to do for Barça?
Everything, I would do anything.
In the summer, with so many signings, Gavi disappeared from the forecasts in the starting eleven… Now nobody would take him out of there.
I trust myself a lot, that’s what matters to me. And Xavi insists on talking, on improving me, and I appreciate that. The master has been one of the best players in history in my position.
He is 19 years old and already a reference for rising players like Lamine Yamal…
I wouldn’t have imagined it at all when I was little, but yes. I try to reassure them, to encourage them. In my case I had Busi, Jordi [Alba]… I know that it is very important to feel this support.
Which player do you particularly admire from the current squad for their professionalism?
And Frenkie, and Frenkie.
Do you notice your loss?
Wafer, enough, just like Pedri’s.
Well, De Jong was on sale two summers ago…
At that moment I was pissed off, I didn’t want him to leave and I told him. Good thing he didn’t leave and is still with us.
Do they enjoy playing? This is important…
Especially this season, I’m enjoying it a lot more. We are doing things better.
There was immediate chemistry with the Joãos.
They are both very good and have adapted quickly. João Félix is ??in my band and I can associate more with him, but I look for both of them. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to get a game going this season.
How does he see Madrid? Stronger?
They have significant losses. But it is always a winning club.
Last year they won the League and this year they are expected to play a good role in the Champions League.
We have to go as far as possible, we are Barça, as the coach says. Winning it with Barça is one of my dreams, not to mention the first, it’s what we all dream of.
Porto’s is the key match in the group stage. Do you play games a lot before playing them?
Yes, especially before the important ones. I think about how it will go and I usually imagine scoring a goal. Thoughts…
How many goals do you see yourself scoring this season?
With Iván de la Peña, my representative, we talked about reaching ten. I’ve already done two.
Outside the area, he doesn’t try the shot much.
I have to see it very clearly, it’s still hard for me, I have to dare.
Does he see himself playing for Barça all his life? In today’s football this is almost impossible.
I hope it can be like that, I won’t be happier anywhere than at Can Barça.
