Pedri's impressive debut season with Barcelona
In a remarkable opening season for the 18-year-old, he played 75 games and has seen his market value increase by €65 million.
One year ago today, Pedri played his first match for Barcelona in a friendly against Nàstic. At the time, nobody could have imagined the impact that the Spanish midfielder was going to have in the 2020/21 season. Pedri, who was only 17 then, was being linked with a loan move to other top-flight teams in Spain and there was also interest from German giants Bayern Munich.
Pedri slots in
When Ronald Koeman saw the youngster up close in training, he soon realised that the club needed to keep him in the first-team squad. In the friendly against Nàstic on 12 September, the Dutch coach started him in the same team as Lionel Messi. He quickly made himself a regular under Koeman, after a couple of outstanding performances, including an excellent display in the 2-0 win away to Juventus in the Champions League. In his first full year with Barça, he played 75 matches, with 57 of those as a starter. That first year included his debut with the Spanish U21 team. He won a Copa del Rey, an Olympic Games silver medal with Spain and played a total of 5,273 minutes.
Pedri's value has risen by €65 millon. He was worth €15 million in October 2020 and he is now valued at €80 million on Transfermarkt.com. "He is a young, humble player, who listens and works hard. He has a great future ahead of him. Mentally he is strong. It has been a demanding year and, if he wasn't mentally strong, he wouldn't have been able to hold out," Ronald Koeman said in the latest episode of the series that Barça TV, the club's official TV channel, has dedicated to their star player.
Plans to signs new deal with Barcelona
Barcelona and the Spain international are currently negotiating a contract extension that will include a substantial increase in salary despite several paycuts being made across the Catalan club. The club's intention is to tie him down to a new long-term deal until 2026 as his current deal only runs until June 2022. The Barça board see Pedri as the future of the club alongside Ansu Fati and fellow midfielder Frenkie De Jong. What a year it has been for the boy from Tenerife and after a two-week break, he is now raring to go again and even returned to Barça training last week ahead of schedule.