Little noise and many nuts. That is, performance and humility. It’s what is asked of the people at home when they come to the first team. That they speak on the field, that they always give a plus, that they provide solutions and that they make the most of every minute, every opportunity. It is the exact definition of the work that Fermín López (El Campillo, 5/11/2003) is completing this course. The youth player, an unknown in the summer when he returned from his loan, has eight goals and has become the ideal remedy for Xavi in ??the midfield for Gavi’s serious injury and the continuous interruptions of De Jong and Pedri. La Masia always comes to the rescue, something the coach knows well.
In one year, the Andalusian has gone from playing against Castilla and Celta’s reserve team to scoring against big teams like Real Madrid, Atlético, Napoli and Valencia.
His has been the triumph of patience, as he did not give up despite having to go to Linares last season, where he learned other football outside the Barça bubble. Now you just have to see how Fermín celebrates his goals, even those that are not his, to realize his motivation and determination to help and gain a foothold. As an occasional complement and with an unusual point due to his loan to Linares, the Andalusian has been gaining responsibility, to become a full member of the squad and a regular in the rotation, with a contract until 2027 and a clause of 400 million.
The physical problems were an invitation, but his response has been forceful. Based on arrival, but also on heart, quality and good positional play, he is the highest scoring midfielder with eight goals, compared to Gündogan’s five and Sergi Roberto’s three. Of those who exceed 500 minutes played, only Lewandowski (149) and Raphinha (197) have a better goal average than him, who scores every 198 minutes played. And there could have been more: he has hit the post three times.
A footballer without godfathers, Fermín is the only one of the youth players who have settled in the first team that did not have the pearl of the future. The spotlight was always on Lamine Yamal, who debuted at the age of 15, while Pau Cubarsí, Marc Guiu and Héctor Fort were in Indonesia last November playing in the U-17 World Cup with the Spanish team. The Huelva native does not belong to that generation that arrives stomping. In fact, next week he turns 21, he is four years older.
Xavi Hernández, who has decided to continue and fulfill his contract, is the one who gave them all their debut. But perhaps Fermín is his most personal bet. Interior like him in his time as a soccer player, he took him on the preseason tour of the United States because he saw something different in him. Barça’s little midfielders learn better than anyone to look around and turn around to avoid the opponent’s attack. Fermín got his foot in the door with his great goal against Real Madrid in the Dallas classic and has established himself.
Albert Ferrer and Rafinha Alcántara are the two examples that are always cited as successful and well-used transfers. In more than three decades! The defender spent half a year at Tenerife in 1989-90. The Brazilian went to Celta in 2013-14 with Luis Enrique, whom he had already had in the reserve team, and with whom he returned to the Camp Nou. Both played in First Division. Nothing to do with Linares, from First RFEF.
Fermín was loaned to a team that played in the same category (a different group) as Barça Atlètic, a sign that they were not fully confident that he would explode and succeed. “He came with a size S and left with an M,” they explained, graphically, in Linares about his progression. There he scored 12 goals. In his landing in the elite, he has already made a place for himself on the scoreboard in the Champions League, in the League, in the Cup and with the under-21 team (in his first start in October). He even missed that he didn’t play in the Cup elimination or Villarreal’s 3-5 win in Montjuïc.
A model in sports, Fermín has not abandoned his studies in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences and does not hesitate to use Catalan – he arrived at La Masia in 2016 at the age of 13. But there are things that are standard. Not in vain, his father is still the postman in El Campillo and has not changed his routines due to the footballer’s fame.
