The future of FC Barcelona already looks quite bright with the numerous talented youngsters at their disposal, but it seems that enough may never be enough at the Catalan club. Just as a new batch of promising young gems arrives, it seems the next is typically already in the making.
Similar to how the likes of Gavi and Lamine Yamal managed to break through to the first team at a young age from the Barcelona subsidiaries, it appears that an extremely promising youngster is already following in their footsteps and is likely to become a topic of major talk sooner rather than later.
As highlighted by Spanish outlet SPORT, Cadet A starlet Guillermo Fernandez may just be the next big thing for FC Barcelona following his latest achievement to highlight his quality.
At just 15 years, 2 months, and 21 days, the youngster becomes the second youngest Barça player ever to debut for the club in the UEFA Youth League by replacing Noah Darvich during the game against Royal Antwerp’s youth side.
The upcoming star is only surpassed in that regard by Lamine Yamal himself, who was a month and five days younger than Guillermo when he made his debut in the UEFA Youth League.
Nevertheless, with his own historic achievement, the 15-year-old shows that he may just be in line to be the next talented breakthrough into the first team.
Following two games with Juvenile A and one appearance with Juvenile B in their respective leagues, the player was chosen to debut in the UEFA Youth League by Oscar Lopez Hernandez.
Already possessing a great reputation over the last six seasons of his with Barça at youth level, it seems it may not be too long from now before he gains one with the first team as well.
Similarities with Balde and Yamal
Interestingly, the youngster’s representative is Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes, who also manages the profiles of other Barcelona youngsters from La Masia such as Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde.
Given that both the others turned out to be great additions to Barca’s first team, it would not be a wild guess to assume Guillermo holds similar potential too.
Complete midfielder
In terms of his attributes, the player possesses a great touch of the ball and even has noticeably strong playmaking abilities. Moreover, his physique and technique allow him to be an efficient dribbler with the ball, and does not have a tendency to lose possession of it often.
The 15-year-old also possesses good power in his shots from distance and is even quite effective in one-on-ones against goalkeepers. Capable of unbalancing opponents and having a great grasp of positional play and awareness, SPORT claims that he has all the ingredients to become a top player.
It will be interesting to keep an eye on the development of the upcoming young star, and particularly to see if and when the 15-year-old finally catches the eye of Xavi Hernandez just enough to get a shot to train and potentially play with the Barcelona first team.