The midfielder has picked up another potentially long-term problem, and may never hit the heights many felt he would
Pedri couldn't hide the tears. The Barcelona midfielder had slumped onto the San Mames pitch after tweaking his right quad, and though he didn't need help off the field, he cut a distraught figure as he limped to the sideline, the Athletic Club fans applauding him off.
That injury, sustained on Sunday, was the latest in a long line of fitness problems that have stunted what should be a glittering career. Now, less than four years after making his Barca debut, it's easy to wonder if the former Golden Boy winner and 'next Iniesta' will ever be the top-level midfielder that so many expected him to.
GOAL takes a look Pedri's injury history, and if the Barcelona star will ever be able to return on his undoubtedly huge potential…
AAJune 2020: Talent acquired
Pedri is not a La Masia graduate. It is one of the greatest misconceptions in recent football history that the silky midfielder came through the same academy as Gavi, Ansu Fati and co. Instead, the Blaugrana hashed out a deal with then-Segunda Division side Las Palmas in late 2019 to sign Pedri the following summer, agreeing on an initial €5 million (£4.3m/$5.5m) fee – then regarded as a significant sum for a 16-year-old with little first-team experience.
Still, there was a sense that Barca had a real talent on their hands. In the months between agreeing his transfer and Pedri's arrival, the Spaniard impressed for Las Palmas, becoming the youngest goalscorer in club history and tallying 10 goal involvements in the second tier.
AdvertisementSoccrates Images/Getty ImagesOctober 2020: 'Signing of the decade'
"Pedri is the signing of the decade" Spanish publication claimed in October 2020. The teenager had just turned in a mesmerising performance against Juventus in the Champions League, his display outshining that of a certain Lionel Messi – despite the Barca legend burying a crucial stoppage-time penalty that sealed a 2-0 win.
That game capped off a rapid rise to prominence for Pedri, one in which the teenager needed less than a month in Catalunya to crack Ronald Koeman's starting XI. He soon became a fixture in a buzzing midfield, and a rare bright spot for a Barcelona team in transition.
Getty ImagesAugust 2021: Worked into the ground
Issues started to arrive for Pedri because, you could argue, he was playing too well. The 2020-21 campaign was a grim one for Barca, Messi's swansong ending in a third-placed La Liga finish. Pedri, the humming midfield presence, offered hope that the post-Messi years could be just as beautiful, though.
A series of managers bought into that hype. Koeman handed him 53 appearances in his debut campaign, rarely giving him a day off as Barca fought to stay alive in three competitions. Luis Enrique was even more assertive with the youngster, a he called Pedri into his Spain squad in March 2021, and had him start two Euro 2020 qualifiers. By the time the tournament proper came around, Pedri was the focal point of the squad, playing all-but one minute as La Roja made a semi-final run. He covered the most ground in the tournament, was named in the Team of the Tournament, and took home the Young Player of the Tournament award.
That should have been enough, but Pedri was then inexplicably shipped off to Japan to repreent Spain in the Olympics. Unsurprisingly given the amount of matches he had already played over the previous 12 months, he turned in a series of beleaguered showings for his country. By the end of it all, he had played 73 games – and over 4,000 minutes – in less than a year.
Getty ImagesSeptember 2021: Injury strikes
It didn't take a medical expert to figure out what would happen next, and Pedri's hamstring was the first muscle to tell him that it had had enough. He missed three games – and less than two weeks – with a minor strain in September 2021, with it the kind of injury that top-level athletes pick up all the time. Unfortunately, for Pedri, it was a sign of things to come.
