€100m Barcelona star continues to shine as he finds his most complete version yet | OneFootball

Players establish themselves at Barcelona once they begin to shine on the big occasions. That is how greats are truly born not just at the club, but in football as a whole. Fortunately for Barcelona, they have no shortage of top players who are delivering equally impressive performances this season.

With Hansi Flick now leading the team, many players at Barcelona have found their best versions. The likes of Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, and several others have started to perform much better and that is helping out Barça as a whole.

A player who deserves special mention in this regard, however, is none other than Pedri. The 22-year-old Barcelona midfielder has unlocked arguably his own best version so far for the club and it is a version that is deciding and dictating the tempo of games as a whole.

As a result of these performances, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, Pedri is finally getting the recognition he deserves as well. Named as the MVP of the recent UEFA Champions League Round of 16 victory over SL Benfica, the young midfielder won the award both in the first leg and the second leg as well.

Moreover, his game is now more complete than it ever has been before. Beyond just the immense amount of chances that he creates for his teammates, Pedri has become a machine of sorts under Hansi Flick’s mentorship. This has not just improved his own game, but that of his entire team as well.

Against Benfica in the most recent game, Pedri covered a total distance of 13.6 km, which was even more than the 13.2 km he covered in the first leg. Furthermore, the Barcelona midfielder is also the player who has covered the most distance for the team in the UEFA Champions League throughout this season with 114.7 km covered.

In this recent second leg, he also finished the game as the top performer in several key metrics. He was the player who created the most chances (3), recovered the joint-most balls alongside Dani Olmo (10), and also won the most tackles (5). Furthermore, he was also the player who completed the most passes in the final third as well during the game.

Even in terms of his participation numbers, Pedri has already played in 41 games this season and is among the untouchables of the team for Hansi Flick. To put that into perspective, he played in 52 games during his debut season and he only needs nine more appearances across three more months of football to match that tally.

Pedri, who is valued at €100 million by Transfermarkt, has also surpassed the assist tally from that season, as he now has six to his name compared to five from that season. Moreover, the Barcelona star is also just two goals away from matching his best tally ever in a single season.