PEDRI — THE NEW MIDFIELDER PROFILE
There are many stereotypes in today’s football about what a midfielder should look like, what performance he should have, what decisions he should make during the match …
There are different philosophies that define different stereotypes, from the fact that today’s football is getting fast, from the fact that today’s football is very physical and requires a lot of strength, from the fact that players need to be strong in a duel game, from the fact that the standard ten in football is disappearing , from the fact that there is no more dribbling, but football is played with one and two touches …
However, all these previously mentioned stereotypes are just stereotypes and nothing more.
How did Pedri refute all these stereotypes?
Just imagine that in Spain it is possible for a child under the age of 13 not to be noticed by the large number of scouts in Spanish football and to stay in the small football club Tegueste in the city of birth of Pedri in the Canary Islands?
It seems unrealistic that none of the hundreds of scouts could see Pedri’s abilities under the age of 13, but let us not forget that Pedri was born on November 25, which on the other hand was certainly physically inferior to that age and could not make any serious difference in that time where the physical side of the players is a huge advantage.
However, what was a disadvantage for him, I think, is his biggest advantage … If he had been born in the first months of the year and made a difference, and was taken by big academies like Real and Barcelona, it is a big question whether his career would develop. in this direction … With the game of one and two touches without the freedom that Pedri had in Tegueste, it would hardly have made him such a superior liquid player who has great self-confidence.
Imagine the fact that Real Madrid at the age of 16 decided that Pedri did not meet their criteria, and in one year he made his debut in Barcelona, and in two years in the Spanish national team.
It seems so surreal that no one can believe it is true!
That’s the way it is, but what performance did Pedri launch to such a high place on the list of the best footballers in the world?
At the time of writing, Pedri is in the top five of the most expensive midfielders in the world, ahead of only Joshua Kimmich, Kevin De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, and Phil Foden.
In any case, this is an incredible success for a 19-year-old footballer who spent 17 years in the Canary Islands.
It is clear to all of us that Pedri is neither a physically dominant footballer at all nor is he extremely fast that breaks the stereotypes about midfielders from the start.
His strengths are: passing, long balls, high pressure.
Last season he had about 57 touches per game or one touch every 0.86 minutes.
In 37 games he had scored 3 goals and 3 assists and he created 5 big chances, which means he participated directly in potential 11 goals or approximately more than 30% per game.
Pedri in his half of the field had 89% successful passes, and in the opposite part of the field even 87% successful passes.
Pedri had 0.9 interceptions per game, he won about 50% of the duels on the ground, he made 0.5 fouls per game and he was fouled 1.1 times per game.
These are the essential numbers that reflect Pedri’s game, but where is the Genius that Pedri has, and which has somehow been forgotten in football in the last few years?
Pedri does not score many goals and it can not be expected that in the future the sum of goals and assists will be greater than 0.25% per game, but Pedri has a clear ability to recognize that last pass in the last third on the field where he creates big chances or has key passes.
All that ability, with 87% passing success in the opposing half, sets him apart from the others, plus the natural elegance in his game and the great publicity of Barça make him a natural successor to Xavi and Iniesta and the style of play that has become so popular around the world.
Many world famous football coaches have already said what I will mention now, but it is true, the physical characteristics of football players have a limit, but the cognitive development of football players is still at the beginning, and it seems to me that this is the next stage in which the footballers stand out.
When you already have enough skills in terms of technique and you have brought your body to the maximum level, the question arises, when the player use what he learned, and how he will use it.
It is common to the best midfielders in the world now, in the past, and certainly in the future!
