In the era of the Internet, electronic devices and artificial intelligence, signings in the youth football categories continue to be done the old way. Someone sees a talented young footballer, takes out their phone to notify a contact at a higher-class club, and that club sends a person to see how the potential signing plays. When the envoy verifies that it is worth it, he tests the family to find out the type of environment and, finally, prepares a report that endorses – or not – the new addition. Then, the color of the story will depend on the future performance of the young promise. It must not be easy to make these types of decisions – they imply an investment and the discarding of other options – and, for every success that is celebrated, hundreds of careers will fall by the wayside.
There are, however, cases so seemingly clear that everyone involved in the signing seems to know the destination from the beginning. That of Pedri González, a Barcelona player, would be one of them. Pedri, by magic (Al Poste) is the book in which the journalist Roger Sabatés Ortega describes the rapid journey that the Spanish midfielder has taken to become a piece of great importance for both his club – the percentage of victories passed in the two previous seasons from 84 to 44% depending on whether he was on the pitch – as for the national team. “Do you already want to retire me?” a former Las Palmas player asked sarcastically when he learned that a book was going to be written about Pedri, a 21-year-old boy. Sabatés turns to journalism – with more than 20 sources – to compose a timeless chronicle about a life stage in which Pedri accelerated his career in a dazzling way. And it all started with a phone call.
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