MADRID, 17 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona midfielder Pablo Martín Páez, ‘Gavi’, won the Raymond Kopa Trophy on Monday, awarded by the French sports magazine ‘France Football’ as part of the Ballon d’Or gala for the best player in the U-21 category of the season 2021-2022.
Gavi, 18 years old and who received the award from Ronaldo Nazario and his teammate Pedri González, sees his great last season rewarded, in which he burst into the ranks of the Catalan team, and relieves in the list of winners precisely the Canadian midfielder
The Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, in 2018, and the Dutchman Mathijs de Ligt, in 2019, are the other two youngsters who complete the list of winners of this award, which was also chosen by Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Jamal Musiala (Bayern), second and third respectively, Jude Bellinghanm (Borussia Dortmund) and Nuno Mendes (PSG).
The Andalusian midfielder became the fourth youngest debutant in Barça history on August 29, 2021. Led by Ronald Koeman, he took the field against Getafe at the age of 17 years and 24 days, and against all odds it has been done a hole in the starting eleven of the culé team since then.
In total, last season he played 47 games with FC Barcelona, ??scoring two goals, both in LaLiga Santander, and his performance in midfield also allowed him to make the jump to the Absolute Spanish team very soon, in which Luis Enrique Martínez He made his debut in October in the semifinal against Italy of the ‘Final Four’ of the League of Nations.
Gavi established that day a new record of precocity in the national team since at only 17 years and 62 days he took the honor from Ángel Zubieta, who had held the honor of being the youngest to wear the ‘Red’ since 1936.
“It is an honor for me to receive this award. I want to thank my family, the people at La Masia who have been there in the good and bad times, the club of my life which is Barça, my teammates and national team, and to all the coaches who have given me the opportunity to debut and thanks to them I am here”, said Gavi upon receiving the award
The midfielder made it clear that he always tries to “give his best” and ruled out that, together with Pedri, he could be the replacement for Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta. “We don’t pay attention to that, we each try to do what he knows how to do,” he limited himself to saying.
