FC Barcelona has made official the signing of Joao Mendes, son of Ronaldinho Gaucho, for the youth team. The 17-year-old player arrives from Cruzeiro, and has signed the agreement with the Blaugrana club this morning along with Joan Soler and José Ramón Alexanko.

The signing was already closed for a few weeks as confirmed by the president Joan Laporta on February 6 at the Mundo Deportivo gala. In fact, Mendes debuted a few days ago with his new team against Manchester United.

The young attacker, who can play both as a forward and as a midfielder, is right-footed, although he works well with both legs. He also stands out for his ability with his feet. In the words of the president, he “has a good plant.”

After the 75th Gran Gala MD, Ronaldinho went through the microphones of RAC1’s ‘Tu Diràs’ and spread the news. “I am never out of the club, Barça is part of my life, I always carry Barça with me. And now with the arrival of my son at Barça I will be even more present. With his arrival I will be more present than ever”, declared the Brazilian.

Now Joao Mendes seeks to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a member of the Blaugrana club between 2003 and 2008 and according to Laporta, “brought Barcelona’s smile back”.

While he was a Barça player, Ronaldinho won a Ballon d’Or in 2005, which he delivered to the club’s museum a few days ago in a joint ceremony with the club’s president.

“We had been talking about bringing the Ball here for some time. I am very happy that the Ball is at home. They are very nice memories. Coming here to the Museum, looking at the photos, the trophies, the friends… I miss them a lot I miss all of them. I want to send a big kiss to all the fans, they always treat me with great affection”, declared the former player, who made his debut in the Kings League last week.

Along with Luis Suárez (1960), Johan Cruyff (1973, 1974), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Rivaldo (1999) and Leo Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019), Ronaldinho is one of the six male footballers who has won the 12 Ballon d’Ors won by players who played for FC Barcelona.

Joao Mendes faces the difficult challenge of honoring the last name of a football legend like Ronaldinho. Something that other children of renowned players like those of Zidane, Simeone, Kluivert or Cañizares know very well.

In the case of the former Real Madrid player and coach, the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, three of his children have followed in his footsteps. All of them came to train at some point with the first white team. Theo and Elyaz Zidane, for their part, continue in the ranks of the Madrid club, while Luca Zidane, goalkeeper, plays for Eibar. Enzo, the oldest of the four, plays for Fuenlabrada in the Primera RFEF.

Interestingly, Lucas Cañizares, son of Santi Cañizares, received his first call-up with the Real Madrid first team when Zinedine Zidane was the coach. Although he hasn’t made his debut yet, he was called up for the Club World Cup due to Thibaut Courtois’ injury.