Pedri, from unknown to icon

Pedro Gonzalez, ‘Pedri’, He has become an icon after his appearance in Barcelona and the Spanish National Team. However, the canary until recently was unknown to football fans. Of course, from a very young age he stood out in each club in which he played, as some of the people who coincided with him point out.

His first soccer experience was in the club of his native town, Tegueste. In the CDAFB Tegueste, Ramón Martín, his physical trainer during his childhood, serve AS: “He entered when he was three years old and it was obvious that he had something that the others do not have. He was always in the club because his father was from the Board of Directors and his brother trained in higher categories; he only thought about football, he was always with a ball playing “.

Pedri spent two years in the UD Tegueste and then the club was renamed CDAFB Tegueste, denomination that it maintains at present. There, the Canarian player spent practically his entire childhood until adolescence, since he left when he was 13 years old.

After this first step, he arrived at the Laguna Youthwhere he spent three seasons (from second year Infant to second year Cadet). Ayozehis coach in his last campaign, highlights that “Pedri was a very close boy, very friendly and very nice to his teammates and coaching staff; he always worried that the team was rowing in the same direction even though he was the one who stood out the most from his generation”.

In addition, it points out that “When Pedri played with us in Preferred Cadet, all the teams wanted to face Juventud Laguna to stop him; he was the leader, but as a team. He didn’t play for himself, but when he had to make a difference, he did.”

Ayoze tells AS that the player from the Canary Islands “had the dream of becoming a professional footballer, but he wasn’t obsessed with it.” From his old club they say that “If anyone had to reach the top it was him, but nobody imagined that in such a meteoric way”. Pedri is a source of pride for the club from a city like San Cristóbal de La Laguna.

Before arriving at Barça, he still went through the UD Las Palmas. He was there for just a year, but even so, he left his mark. Martin Mantovani was his partner in this campaign and speaks in AS like this about the culé star: “He was always very calm and with a very well-furnished head, he had no birds at all. He took responsibility in Las Palmas and it did not weigh him down, despite his youth”.

“Pedri arrived skinny, very calm… he was cannon fodder. However, when he started playing it was a recital: he seemed like one of the squad with passes between the lines, he associated with everyone, he always offered himself…”, says Martín, who also emphasizes that he was a player who went step by step and knew how to listen to the most experienced players. An example for any young person.

His football explosion came in 2020 when he wore the T-shirt for the first time Barcelona. Later, events followed one another: his first start against Getafe in October 2020, his first goal against Ferencvaros in the Champions League and his call-up with the absolute Spanish National Team.

From the hand of Luis Enrique he was summoned in March 2021 to wear the red and, in May of the same year, he became the driver of the National Team at Euro 2020. In addition, he also played the Jtokyo olympics, achieving the silver medal with Spain. His great performance in 2021 caused him to be awarded in November with the golden-boy, which rewards the best European under-21 player. He also received the Kopa Trophy, which is awarded by the French sports magazine France Football and honors the best player under 21 in the world.

Currently, it has a clause of, neither more nor less, than €1 billionafter his last renewal with Barcelona, ​​which makes him a key player for the future of the Barça team.

A meteoric career that has made Pedri an icon, not only in football but also in the world of fashion thanks to Springfieldwhich has launched a new clothing line (iCON) in collaboration with the Canarian player.

This line follows the idea of ​​the brand for the care of the environment and the construction of a better future with the use of increasingly sustainable clothing, either through the use of organic or recycled raw materials or technologies that allow water, energy and chemical savings in the garment finishing processes.

^{*This content offered by SPRINGFIELD has been prepared by Diario AS.}