Following news of Gavi’s ACL injury, the spotlight is back on Barcelona, Spain and their use of young players.
19-year-old Gavi is set to miss the remainder of the 2023/24 season after suffering a serious knee injury, and the situation has brought back memories of teammate Pedri, whose own immense workload at such a young age has been blamed for his ongoing struggle through injuries.
Here’s how the two players’ career minutes actually line up.
Gavi made his Barcelona debut just 24 days after his 17th birthday when he came off the bench against Getafe in August 2021.
The teenager was so impactful that he earned himself an immediate call-up to the Spain squad and made his international debut in October of the same year, and he’d soon be established as a permanent member of the starting lineup for both club and country.
Gavi would retain that prominence up until his ACL injury in November 2023, playing just under 10,000 minutes before being forced into an extended spell on the sidelines.
Gavi’s career minutes
|
Season |
Minutes Played |
Total Career Minutes |
|---|---|---|
|
2021/22 |
3,763 |
3,763 |
|
2022/23 |
4,213 |
7,976 |
|
2023/24 |
1,591 |
9,567 |
Pedri has become the poster boy for the perils of overworking young players.
The midfielder began his career at just 16 years old with Las Palmas and would be an immediate starter for Barcelona when he officially arrived in the summer of 2020.
His first season is the stuff of infamy, with Pedri playing no fewer than 73 games for club and country and barely taking any time off between the two campaigns.
Pedri’s hamstrings began to scream in pain in September 2021, shortly after Gavi’s emergence at Camp Nou, and he would miss no fewer than 39 games for club and country, as well as a further three due to COVID-19.
The talented midfielder is yet to really recover from his injury woes, missing 15 games in 2022/23 and starting the 2023/24 campaign with a nasty hamstring problem, and many have blamed that 73-game season for his struggles.
Pedri’s career minutes
|
Season |
Minutes Played |
Total Career Minutes |
|---|---|---|
|
2019/20 |
2,861 |
2,861 |
|
2020/21 |
4,927 |
7,788 |
|
2021/22 |
1,807 |
9,595 |
|
2022/23 |
3,172 |
12,767 |
If we compare Gavi and Pedri’s first two seasons in senior football, we can see that the former actually played more minutes across the period.
With Gavi expected to miss the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign through injury, it means the duo’s third senior seasons bring them to an eerily similar minutes total. Pedri had played 9,595 minutes of football by the end of year three, while Gavi was on 9,567 when his third campaign was brought to an abrupt end.
Pedri turned 19 in November 2021, by which point he had racked up fewer than 8,000 minutes, well below Gavi’s total by the time he went down injured.
Whether the intense output at such a young age played a role in either Pedri or Gavi’s injuries is for the medical professionals to debate, but it’s clear to see that both players’ bodies were put through an immense workload before injuries took their toll.
All eyes will now be on 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal, who is already over 1,000 minutes into his senior careers with Barcelona and Spain.
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