Photo Fact Mandu
Photo Fact Mandu

Pedri Gonzalez’s Biography and Early Life

Pedri Gonzalez was born into a family of Barcelona fans. His family has had a long history with the beautiful game. His grandfather was the founder of Penya Barcelonista de Tenerife-Tegueste, which is Barcelona's fan club in Pedri's birth town, Tegueste.

Riqui is the second child of his parents. He has an older brother who is not a professional football player yet.

Pedri Gonzalez date of birth is at the 25th day of November 2002. It is also interesting that Pedri Gonzalez shares his birthday with former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star, Xabi Alonso who is also born on the 25th of November.

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Photo Sportmob

Pedri Gonzalez nationality is Spanish. He was born in Tegueste, Spain. Pedri grew up in a football loving family who supported Barcelona since before he was born. Such was their passion for Barcelona that even the dinner plates bear the Barcelona badge. Moreover, Pedri's grandfather was the founder of the Penya Barcelonista de Tenerife-Tegueste. Pedri himself said in an interview before his move to Barcelona that he was a fan of the club since his childhood.

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Photo Sportmob

"I've been Barca fan since I was born. At home we're all Barca. My grandfather founded the Penya Blaugrana Tenerife-Tegueste. I've always dreamed of coming out of the tunnel and stepping on the Camp Nou.

Pedri Gonzalez started his football journey at the age of 6 by joining his hometown club's academy, Tegueste, where he stayed until he became a teenager. In 2015, Pedri moved to Juventus Laguna's academy. He continued to impress in the following two seasons before joining Las Palmas's youth rank in 2017. Pedri's quality and mature playing style was so impressive that he was promoted to Las Palmas's senior side in 2018, which market the start of his professional career.

During his early years as an amateur footballer, Pedri's idol was Barcelona's legendary midfielder, Andres Iniesta, which justifies to some extent the similarities between his playing style with the former Spanish star. He also was fond of former Barcelona's midfielder, Michael Laudrup as his father used to play for him highlights from the Danish star's time with the Catalans.

Pedri Gonzalez’s Relationship

Pedri Gonzalez has not had any formal relationship so far, which is not surprising since he is only 19 years old. It is natural for ladies to drool over a player that has made his mark in football. In other words, there is no way Gonzalez can be without a girlfriend. However, we’ve not seen him with any. He must have probably listened to his parents’ advice on focusing just on football. That explains why debates regarding if Gonzalez has a girlfriend or not will continue to rage on.

Pablo Gonzalez’s Net Worth and Lifestyle

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Photo Sportmob

One word defines the soccer star’s lifestyle. The word is conservative. He lives a low key lifestyle despite having a net worth of roughly €1.1 million. Pedri just recently turned 18 years old and is taking life at his pace. He once arrived Camp Nou with his clothes in a nylon bag after being dropped by a taxi. We bet he still hasn’t obtained a driving license to legally hit the roads in any budget car he may acquire. Neither does he live in a fancy house.

Pedri Gonzalez favorite activities outside football are exercising, playing video games and spending time with his friends and family members.

Pedri's closest friends in Barcelona is his Portuguese team mate, Francisco Trincao. He explained in an interview on how they became close friends when they first arrived at Barcelona during the summer of 2020:

"I have had more affinity is with Trincao because when we arrived we were training alone for the Covid issue, we arrived just at the same time and we were in the same hotel."

READ MORE: Top 10 Richest People in the World - A View to Their Net Worth

Pedri Gonzalez’s Football Career

2018-19: Impressing with Las Palmas in his debut season

Pedri Gonzalez signed his first professional contract with Las Palmas senior side in 2018. The 16 years old sensation made his professional debut for in the La Liga2 game against Huesca, which Las Palmas lost 1-0. In September 2018 Pedri scored his first senior goal in Las Palmas 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon. With the goal Pedri became the youngest goal scorer in Las Palmas history at 16 years, 9 months and 23 days of age. His best game for Las Palmas in the Segunda Division was the 3-0 win against Deportivo La Cruna in which Pedri provided 2 assists and was named man of the match.

Overall, Pedri played 37 games across all competitons during the 2019-20 season. He scored 5 goals and provided 7 assists. He was the outfield player with the most minutes played for the Canary Island club.

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Photo Gossip Gist

2020-21 Season: Joining Barcelona and becoming a starter

In the summer of 2020, it was announced that Pedri will join Barcelona in a four year contract and with a fee of 5 million Euros.

Barcelona planned a loan move for the teenager in the summer transfer window, but Pedri was so sensational in the pre-season trainings that Barcelona's new coach, Ronald Koeman decided to give him a chance. Not only Pedri stayed at Barcelona, but He became a starter for the club since the beginning of the season after a series of impressive performances in his first games for the Catalans.

Pedri debuted for Barcelona in September, when he came off the bench in the place of Phillippe Coutinho in Barcelona's Season opener against Villarreal, which the Catalans won 4-0. The talented teenager was included in Barcelona's starting line-up for the first time on the 17th of October, in a 0–1 away loss against Getafe.

Pedri's breakthrough at Barcelona came in the first El Clasico of the season, when he was in Koeman's Starting Line-up, which raised many eyebrows. Despite Barcelona losing 3-1 at home, Pedri played a relatively good game Koeman said in the post-match press conference that he played Pedri to control Vicinious Junior's pace on the left side and the youngster did not disappoint.

Pedri bright start to life at Barcelona continued as he provided a masterclass performance in the Champions League group-stage game against Juventus. Pedri played the game on the right side of the pitch and was sensational both in attack and defence as Barcelona won by two goals to nil.

Pedri scored his first senior goal on the 20th of October 2020, in a 5–1 win over Ferencvaros in the Champions League group stage, after coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute in the place of Ansu Fati. Almost two weeks later, He scored his first La Liga goal, in a 5–2 home win over Real Betis.

Pedri reacted to his first two senior goals in a humble way.

"When a young person realizes a dream, you feel happy and can't quite believe it. I still think about it and I'm just very happy as it was a wonderful experience".

Pedri's other memorable game for Barcelona in the 20-21 season was against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames as he scored a headed goal and assisted Barca's second in a hard fought 3–2 win.

As of the first day of February 2021, Pedri has played 29 games for Barcelona across all competitions, scoring 3 goals and providing 4 assists in those matches. Overall, he has registered 7 goals and 11 assists in 66 games during his professional career.

Pedri is under contract with Barcelona until January 2022. His latest market value was 55 million Euros, which clearly shows why he is among the most exciting talents in the football world.

With Spain youth teams

Pedri earned his first call up to Spain's youth teams in 2019 as he debuted for Spain's U17 side on October 28. During the last two seasons he has played in Spain's U17, U18, U19 and U21 teams. He scored his only international goal for Spain U18 team on September 14, 2019.

Pedri has not been invited to Spain's senior side, but given his high quality performances for Barcelona, it seems only a matter of time before he make his debut for La Roja.

Pedri has been praised for his amazing ball control and his ability to send the final pass behind the opposition's defensive line. He has built a good chemistry with Lionel Messi as his brilliant style and natural abilities has made it easy for the Argentine Superstar to link up with Pedri on the field. Pedri even assisted the goal Messi needed to break Pele's record for most goals scored for a single club.

Pedri is a diminutive midfield and many big clubs are eager to secure his services. Here are some of quotes on Pedri Gonzalez from great football figures:

Beyond his football qualities, his maturity as a person stood out. The respect and treatment he always gave to his rivals, his teammates and coaches was different from that of others.” (Roman Delgado-Pedri's coach at Las Palmas youth academy)

"I knew Barca had signed him from Las Palmas and I had seen tape of him, but I don’t think anyone expected the rapidity of his development since joining – playing and training with the best players at Barca aged just 17, delivering such high levels of performance.”

"He is a boy who comes from a very humble family and he knows what should be doing to improve and what he should not think that he is already there. He has a great future, but he must continue working.” (Ronald Koeman)

Even the best players in the history of football have faced criticism from their coaches and fans at some parts of their career. In the case of Pedri Gonzalez, he has been criticized for his reluctance to shoot when he is in a goal scoring opportunity.

During his career, Pedri Gonzalez has won any collective and individual awards. He broke one record during his first professional season as he became the youngest goal scorer in Las Palmas history at 16 years, 9 months and 23 days of age, when he scored his first professional goal in Las Palmas Segunda Division game against Sporting Gijon.
Pedri Gonzalez’s Career Statistics

Club

Overall, Pedri Gonzalez has played 88 Games for two teams (Barcelona and Las Palmas Senior teams) during his club career. He has registered 7 goals and 11 assists to his name.

Pedri Gonzalez best season individually has been the 2020-21 Season in which he played 30 games for Barcelona's senior side in the first half of the season. He has scored 3 goals and has provided 5 assists.

International

On the international, Pedri Gonzalez career stats shows that he has played a total of 12 games for Spain youth sides. He has scored one goal for Spain U18. Pedri Gonzalez is yet to earn a call to Spain national team, but given the quality of his performances for Barcelona he hopes to make Spain's final squad for the upcoming European Championship.

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