Without having come of age, Gavi has mastery of the scene typical of a crack. Whether as a starter or as a starter, as a scorer or assistant, with a hat or a recovery, he never goes unnoticed on the field. It is what Luis Enrique likes about the midfielder and it has caused Barcelona to want to tie up and shield the youth squad with a clause of 1,000 million.
Seeing him play with that leadership, with that self-confidence and with that competitiveness, it is hard to believe his age and that it is only his first season in the soccer elite. But it is like this. On June 27, 2021, the Andalusian was playing the final four of the Youth Champions Cup in Marbella. He beat Malaga and lost the decisive match against Deportivo. On June 12, 2022, he lowered the blind of the course after the Spain-Czech Republic.
In between, 47 games with the Barça first team and another 10 with the senior team in which he has garnered praise from the coach, has broken a precocious record from before the civil war, has become the youngest scorer with the red and has added almost 3,100 minutes with the Blaugrana, almost as many as Denis Suárez, Tello or Jordi Cruyff, with 2 goals.
It has been a volcanic year for him, the way he plays. “Gavi is an erupting volcano when he is on the pitch. It is impossible that no one has enjoyed it. He plays between the lines, he is daring. It’s hard not to fall in love with him”, highlights Luis Enrique. “At 17 years old, it is a spectacle. It is wonderful to train him. He excites me ”, assures Xavi, his coach at the Camp Nou.
When he turns 18, on August 5, it will be a week before the 22-23 League starts and Gavi, if he signs the renewal until 2026 as it is on his agent’s table, will no longer do so with 30 (Messi and Thiago also wore that number) on the back, but as a full member of the first team.
The interior of Los Palacios, who still lives in the Masia Oriol Tort, will enter directly to the billion club along with Pedri, Ansu Fati and Ronald Araújo, all basic pieces in the present and future of Barça.
And that hasn’t even been ten months since he made his debut on August 29 against Getafe at the hands of Ronald Koeman. He did not do it before because in the fourth game of the preseason, against Red Bull Salzburg, he broke his jaw in a crash. That and the cards (15 yellow and one red) is the only thing that has been able to stop him.
He made his debut with Spain at the age of 17 years and 62 days and there have been 10 games, 8 starts and a goal in 674 minutes, which places him in the group that will almost certainly go to the World Cup in Qatar in November.
A career that resembles Pedri’s first year as a Blaugrana, in which he played 52 games, 10 with the senior team and 7 with the Olympic team in Tokyo, where he won silver. These performances earned the Canary Islands the Kopa and Bravo awards. Gavi has opposed a volcanic year.
