FC Barcelona tends to be quite nurturing with the promising talents that it develops within its academy. These stars of tomorrow are exactly who Barcelona hope to count on in the upcoming years. Both as a sporting asset as well as a potential financial asset, these youngsters can be big difference makers.
However, it is also simultaneously easy to get carried away by talent. Such was the case with 20-year-old youngster Pedri. During the 2020/21 season, the Spaniard was utilized to an extreme extent by both Barcelona and the Spanish National team.
With both his country and club, he played 73 matches across that campaign. In La Liga, Pedri accumulated 37 league appearances as well as 6 in the Copa Del Ray, 2 in the Supercup and 7 in the UEFA Champions League.
A further 10 games played at the Euros that same year are then added to this tally alongside the 11 other games played for the Under-21 and Olympic sides. This led to Pedri being overexerted to an extreme extent that season.
The aftermath of this significant workload is being witnessed in the present day. Regular muscular injuries and overloads have come as a result of that over reliance on Pedri. Even a fellow Spaniard believes that to be the case as he pointed out in an interview.
According to Mundo Deportivo, however, a new batch of Barcelona youngsters could meet the same fate. Lamine Yamal, Gavi and Alejandro Balde are three players who are expected to be key for both Barcelona and Spain during this campaign.
Coincidentally, 2024 will once again bring about both the Euros and the Paris Olympics. This would mean that, hypothetically, these three players could end up playing almost 80 games during this campaign. This figure would exceed even the precedent set by Pedri’s exhausting year.
From a calculating perspective, 59 of those games would come with Barcelona. 38 League fixtures, two possible Super Cup games, thirteen Champions League games if Barça go all the way, and six Copa Del Ray games.
On top of that, many games with Spain could be added to that tally. Eight World Cup Qualifier games could be added alongside seven from the Euros. Lastly, there would also hypothetically be six games from the Olympics if Spain go all the way.
Fermin Lopez, however, may end up surviving this onslaught of games. While nothing can be guaranteed, his inclusion seems less likely for now and could have less of a prominent role as compared to his other Barcelona and La Masia fellows.
