Hansi Flick calls up promising 16-year-old quarry goalkeeper to train with the Barcelona first-team

Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO/AFP via Getty Images

After their last night’s win over Getafe, FC Barcelona are now preparing for their next league match, against Osasuna on Saturday. The Blaugranes will look to get another win in this difficult away match to continue their winning streak and equal the best start to a league season in the club’s history.

The Catalan team is already training for this match, and there are some new faces attending these training sessions. For the last match against Getafe, Flick had named one of the young goalkeepers, Aron Yaakobishvili in the squad amid Ter Stegen’s injury.

Now, SPORT reports that there was another highly-rated young goalkeeper training with the first team in this training session ahead of the match against Osasuna. This goalkeeper is Iker Rodriguez, who has been making rapid progress at the youth level and is currently one of the most promising shot-stoppers of his age group in Spain.

The report goes on to claim that he is the goalkeeper closest in style to the injured Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. He stands out with his technicality, agility between the sticks, ability to control the ball and pass with his feet, and being calm in difficult situations.

Although he still has a lot to learn and work on several aspects of his game, he is already considered to be one of the players with the highest potential at La Masia.

Rodriguez has been a starting goalkeeper for Cadet A, which was the champion of the Division of Honor with a 20-point gap over the runner-ups. But now with his renewal done, he will be a part of the Juvenile B team that is being coached by Pol Planas this season.

While it is not clear whether he will be named in the squad for the upcoming game, his call-up to train with the Barcelona first team will itself be a great learning experience for him, and help him develop some useful skills.

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