OneFootball
·13. Juli 2025
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·13. Juli 2025
He could have been the next Lionel Messi. After all, in his youth, he was nicknamed "Messi de los Palacios" ("Messi from Los Palacios"). But his body had other plans.
The reason Fabián Ruiz didn't become the next small, bustling Messi and has so far flown under the radar was due to a growth spurt at the age of 14. As 'L'Equipe' reports, the current PSG star from Andalusia, who wants to be called Fabián, grew by 29 centimeters in just a few months. For comparison: If Messi had grown by 29 centimeters in his youth, he would be 1.99 meters tall today and could look Per Mertesacker in the eye.
So, a big leap that Fabián had to cope with, which also affected his football game. However, he wouldn't be successful with it until years later. The really big titles didn't come until the summer of 2024. After the European Championship title with Spain, he was selected by UEFA for the tournament's top eleven.
Thus, he increasingly came into the focus of media coverage. Before the tournament in Germany, he rather flew under the radar. When he moved from Napoli to the French capital in 2022, he was still hoping for a place in the Spanish national team for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. "I didn't take him to the World Cup and that was a mistake," admitted current PSG coach Luis Enrique in February 2025. Enrique now describes Fabián as one of the best players he has in midfield.
The fans probably didn't expect this development at the beginning of his time at PSG. In his first two seasons, Fabián scored five and four points respectively in Ligue 1. This season it was nine, even though scoring and assisting are not his main tasks. Because with Dembélé, Doué, Kvaratskhelia and Co., the Parisians have several creative minds who can stir up the opposing defense. Vitinha, on the other hand, takes on the defensive part in PSG's midfield, often dropping back so that his teammates can get involved offensively.
But what has changed under Enrique that Fabián is suddenly the boss in PSG's midfield at the age of 29? With a tactical trick, his coach brought out the strengths of the midfield star even more. He was moved from the six (a more defensive position) to the eight (more offensive).
On the left side, the box-to-box player can and is able to get more involved in the offensive game with his advances. His good coordination with Vitinha and João Neves allows PSG to control the pace. In the build-up, the Spaniard can hold the ball for a long time and pass it accurately.
Fabián is adaptable, which has been made even clearer by the position change. He also demonstrated this adaptability when he was 14 years old and had to adjust to his new body size.
He has learned to develop a particularly good eye for open spaces, which he now opens up and thus binds opposing players to himself. "Playing with Fabián is easy. He sees everything before everyone else and always puts me in a good position. You can tell that he has reached a new dimension this season," his teammate Vitinha noted in an interview with 'Canal+' in March.
His coach also raved about his game overview in April. "Fabián is a player who understands the game better than many others. He knows when to accelerate, when to calm the game down – he gets the others playing. A quiet, but indispensable leader," Enrique explained.
Exactly what Messi is to this day. A quiet boss in the attack, who binds the opponents to himself and leads the team on the field without shouting and being loud. Fabián has managed to adopt a part of Messi. PSG thus has a Messi again, just the Messi from Los Palacios, who is 1.89 meters tall.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 ANGELA WEISS - AFP or licensors