Who Is Gavi: Early Life, Education, Career, Personal Life, Net Worth
Who Is Gavi: Early Life, Education, Career, Personal Life, Net Worth

Pablo Martín Páez Gavira (born 5 August 2004), known as Gavi, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team.

Here is his early life, education, career, personal life, and net worth.

Who is Gavi?

Photo: Twitter
Photo: Twitter

Pablo Gavi is a Spanish professional footballer. He plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and also the Spain national team. He began his career at La Liara Balompie, a club. Later he played at Real Betis’s Youth Academy and scored 95 goals for this team.

In La Liga, Gavi is the fourth-youngest player to represent Barcelona. In the UEFA Nations League semi-final, he made his international team debut for Spain at the age of 17 years, 2 months, and 1 day and became the youngest player to play for the Spain national team.

Early Life & Family

Gavi was born and raised up in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Spain, and belongs to the Spanish-White ethnicity. He is born to his father Pablo Paez while his mother’s name is not known. He also has a beautiful sister named Aurora Paez Gavira. As of his education, there is no information related to his education and educational qualifications.

Club career

Photo: FC Barcelona
Photo: FC Barcelona

Early career

Born in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Andalusia, Gavi started at La Liara Balompié, a club in his hometown, and from there he moved on to Real Betis's youth academy. He scored 95 goals for the youth team of Real Betis.

Barcelona

Youth career

In 2015, at the age of 11, he signed for Barcelona.

In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the Catalan club, and was promoted directly from the under-16 team to the under-19 team. He made his debut for Barcelona B on 21 February 2021, in the 6–0 home routing of L'Hospitalet, coming on as a substitute for Nico González in the 77th minute. He made his first start for Barça B the following 14 March in a 1–0 derby win against Espanyol B at the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque.

2021–22 season

Having featured twice for Barcelona B in the 2020–21 season, Gavi was promoted to the senior squad for pre-season friendlies with the first team ahead of the start of the new season. After good performances in wins against Gimnàstic de Tarragona and Girona, Gavi was reported to have pushed ahead of Riqui Puig in Ronald Koeman's squad selection. He continued this good run of form in a 3–0 win against German opposition VfB Stuttgart, earning comparisons with Barcelona legend Xavi.

On 29 August 2021, he played his first official match for Barcelona's first team in the 2–1 La Liga win over Getafe, replacing Sergi Roberto in the 73rd minute. On 18 December, he scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–2 home win over Elche.

International career

Photo: Besport
Photo: Besport

Gavi has represented Spain at under-15 and under-16 level.

On 30 September 2021, Gavi received a surprise call-up to the senior Spain national team by the manager Luis Enrique. He made his debut in their UEFA Nations League semi-final win against Italy on 6 October, becoming the youngest player to ever represent Spain at senior level. In the final against France on 10 October, Spain ultimately suffered a 2–1 defeat. On 5 June 2022, he scored his first senior goal in the Nations League away against Czech Republic, becoming the youngest player to ever score representing Spain at senior level.

Height / Weight / Age

Born on 05 August 2004, this handsome footballer has turned 17 years old in the year 2021. He seems enough tall with his height which is 173 in centimeters and 5’8” in feet & inches. He maintains himself very fit and healthy with a weight of 68 in kilograms and 150 lbs in pounds.

Moreover, he is very conscious about his physique and follows a regular and healthy diet in order to keep himself fit as a fiddle with the body measurements of 40 inches chest, 32 inches waist, and 13 inches biceps approximately.

Pablo Gavi Marital Status

Pablo Gavi is single, he is not dating anyone. He is currently focusing on his football career. So we can’t tell you Pablo Gavi’s girlfriend’s name. As he hasn’t revealed anything about his love relationship. But we will soon let you know.

Marital Status: Unmarried

Girlfriend: Not Known

Net Worth

Photo: DailyNationToday
Photo: DailyNationToday

His net worth is estimated to have between in the range of $1 million $5 Million and his market value is more than €25 Million at present.

Style of play

Graham Hunter of ESPN hailed Gavi as a highly promising young player in 2021, comparing him to former Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta due to his qualities as a footballer, including his dribbling, anticipation, intelligence, vision, passing, first touch, close control, change of pace, and ability to turn quickly to get out of tight spaces and initiate counter-attacks. Following his performance in Spain's semi-final victory over Italy in the 2021 Nations League Finals, Italian defender Emerson Palmieri described Gavi as a player who "has huge potential."

Some Interesting Facts About Gavi

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
  • He was featured twice for Barcelona B during his 2020-2021 season.
  • In the UEFA Nations League, he was a runner-up with the Spain International team.
  • For his current team, he wears a jersey number or shirt number is 30.
  • He is born with the real name of Pablo Martin Paez Gavira.
  • Gavi is the youngest football player to represent Spain at the international level.
  • His contract with Barcelona will keep him until 2023 at Camp Nou.
  • Before joining Barcelona, he recorded 95 goals for Real Betis.
  • Spain national team manager Luis Enrique called up Gavi to senior Spain’s national team.

Gavi’s contract impasse at Barcelona and the problem of too much football

“Gavi is still an unknown in Spanish football, even for the people around him,” Spain coach Luis Enrique said. “He does not just run, battle and work defensively. In attack and with the ball he is a very special player. He scores goals, you will soon see, shoots, has startling physical power and plays with both feet. He is a unique player.”

Luis Enrique was speaking after Barcelona midfielder Pablo Martin Paez Gavira’s outstanding performance in last Thursday’s 1-1 UEFA Nations League draw with Portugal. Of course, you will know him as Gavi and the still just 17-year-old had been the game’s outstanding figure, showing tremendous personality and game intelligence to overshadow experienced Portuguese midfielders like Joao Moutinho and Bruno Fernandes.

Gavi’s attacking quality was especially clear as he led the counter-attack that led to Spain’s goal in that game at the Estadio Benito Villamarin. Picking up the ball after a Portugal corner, he carried it deep into the opposition half before perfectly timing and directing a pass into the path of Pablo Sarabia. The ball arrived with instructions for what to do next, and Sarabia obediently squared to give Alvaro Morata a simple finish. Gavi also set up clear chances that were missed by Morata and fellow midfielder Carlos Soler. Portugal’s equaliser came just a minute after he had left the pitch.

Three days later, the Andalusian was one of just three players who stayed in the XI for another Nations League game against the Czech Republic. He was again an outstanding performer in an uneven team performance, as they needed a late Inigo Martinez header to get a 2-2 draw.

La Roja’s other goal on the night came when Gavi received the ball from Manchester City’s Rodri in the Czech penalty area, well covered by two defenders. His first touch made just enough space for his second to be a perfectly guided low shot just inside the far post.

At just 17 years and 304 days, Gavi became the youngest ever scorer for Spain’s senior international team, passing his Barca team-mate Ansu Fati (who was just a week older when he had scored his first senior international goal against Ukraine in September 2020).

Such precocity and personality has startled most observers, but not Luis Enrique, who was Barcelona first-team coach back in 2015 when the Catalan team plucked the then 11-year-old from Real Betis’ youth ranks. Luis Enrique followed his progress closely, and just two months after his La Liga debut, came a first senior Spain international call-up for October’s UEFA Nations League semi-final against Italy. The debutant was preternaturally good as Spain gave probably their best all-round performance since the Euro 2012 final.

Gavi has started all six competitive games that Spain have played since, overtaking rivals for a starting spot in the favoured 4-3-3 shape including Liverpool’s Thiago, Atletico Madrid’s Koke and Marcos Llorente, Valencia’s Soler, Napoli’s Fabian Ruiz and Real Sociedad’s Mikel Merino. Barring a change of mind or circumstances, Spain’s midfield at the World Cup next winter will be Gavi alongside his Barca clubmates Sergio Busquets and Pedri.

“If there was a player with conviction in the Spanish team against the Czech Republic, it was Gavi,” Luis Enrique said in Prague on Sunday night. “He either shoots himself or he gets into the area. That conviction is priceless. How much is that worth?”

The ex-Barcelona player and coach denied that he was directing a message back to his old employers. But all the talk about Gavi’s “priceless” qualities, and some people not recognising what they had, did seem pointed. Especially as Luis Enrique’s former team-mate and still friend Ivan de la Pena is now Gavi’s agent, and talks with Barca’s hierarchy over a contract extension and pay rise are currently deadlocked.

The teenager is still on the contract signed in 2020 which sees him paid around €100,000 a year. His camp feel that he now deserves a salary similar to that of his fellow emerging superstar team-mates Pedri and Fati. Barca’s hierarchy argue that Gavi is still a rung below that level, a status reflected in their most recent contract offer.

Gavi’s camp are not the only ones puzzled by Joan Laporta and sporting director Mateu Alemany pleading poverty when it comes to current players’ contracts, and then talking publicly about the possibility of being able to attract some of the game’s biggest earners, such as Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski.

Given that Gavi’s current deal has just 12 months left to run, the situation is increasingly difficult, as Barcelona president Joan Laporta has openly admitted.

“(Gavi) has had an offer for a while now, and we still have no news that he has accepted it,” Laporta told L’Esportiu in late May. “The situation hurts us as we do not understand what his agent is playing at. Our proposal, within our salary scale, is more than acceptable. Now it seems his agent is pushing back the decision. I don’t like what is happening.”

Meanwhile, Gavi’s performances for club and country have put him on the radars of Europe’s biggest and richest clubs. Catalan press resorts have credited all of Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton and Bayern with an interest, and talked of bids of €40 million being made.

The argument that Gavi deserves to be valued by Barca as an important first-teamer, not a young squad player, is backed up by the numbers. Xavi’s preferred first choice midfield when everyone is available may currently be Frenkie de Jong alongside Pedri and Busquets. Yet Gavi still featured in 47 club games last season, 36 of them as a starter. Should De Jong leave this summer, perhaps for Manchester United, his workload next year could be even higher.

That may not be a good thing for anybody involved. Including 45 minutes for Barca B back in September, Gavi played a total of 3,135 minutes for his club in 2021-22. Only Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Busquets, Jordi Alba, De Jong and Ronald Araujo spent more time on the pitch. Add in 110 minutes with Spain’s Under-21s last September, then 569 minutes of senior international football during the season, and the teenager has already clocked up 3,814 minutes in his first season at the top level.

Luis Enrique admitted to substituting him against Portugal last Thursday as the player had felt a possible muscle problem. However he was back in the XI three days later in Prague. He could also now feature in Spain’s other Nations League games this window — at Switzerland on Thursday and against the Czech Republic in Malaga on Sunday.

This brings to mind fellow whizz-kid Pedri’s amazing 2020-21 season, which extended through last summer’s European Championship and Olympic Games, and should make both Xavi and Luis Enrique think. The Canary Islander paid for that over-exertion (which was obvious at the time) with a string of muscle injuries that hampered him throughout the course of the 2021-22.

Gavi turns 18 on August 5, a week before the La Liga season begins. It should really be in the interests of all concerned to get his contract situation sorted well before then.

After an amazing last 10 months, Gavi looks set for an incalculably bright future. To have the best opportunity for a stellar career, he needs a physical and mental rest now, because next year is likely to be even busier.

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