Joel Sánchez proves himself at Juvenil A | OneFootball

It has not been an easy season for Ángel Donato’s boys. Despite having come close to achieving a historic milestone in Europe, just one step away from the UEFA Youth League Final Four, both the Copa del Rey and the División de Honor have brought some unusual results, leaving them out of the title race early on. But it all responds to a project focused on speeding up development, since the bulk of the squad is made up of first- and second-year youth players, while the rest moved up a category within the academy structure.

Quite a few names have stood out overall, but I’ll stick with one I really believe in and especially want to talk about here: Joel Sánchez. The Catalan winger put together a very good campaign last season, but he was unable to finish it because of a long-term injury that took him some time to fully recover from. Looking at his season, it was easy to foresee that his adaptation to the División de Honor would be quick, and that has indeed been the case.

If in the 2024-2025 campaign he posted 17 goals in 20 matches -15 goals in 19 matches the previous year-, this season he has 6 goals in 18 appearances across all competitions. He has only started 9 of them, but that is understandable, as time is needed to adapt to the team, what the coach asks for, and the style of play. What’s more, thanks to his good performances, he made his debut for Atlético de Madrid C against Siello in the Tercera RFEF, playing around 20 minutes for the team coached by Manel Ruano.

What kind of winger is he? A dribbler, strong in 1-v-1 situations and good at taking players on. In recent years he has shown a knack for finding the net regularly. Taking on defenders, cutting inside after a dribble, and curling it into the far top corner is his trademark move. That’s how he has scored several goals this year, and it was also how he did it before this season. Personally, I have not seen him take penalties, except for one: in the shootout against Maccabi Haifa in the UEFA Youth League. In fact, the cover photo of this piece is from that day, when he changed the game after coming on in the final stretch.

What can we expect from his future? That before long he will be playing for one of the two reserve teams, possibly the C side in the Segunda RFEF if nothing goes wrong this Saturday. Because he has both the numbers and the attributes, but the jump to senior level is far from easy. Full confidence in the Tarragona-born player.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.