Luis Enrique: “Pedri and Iniesta are two different players”

Spain boss Luis Enrique has called for comparisons between Barcelona teenage midfielder Pedri and the club’s former captain Andres Iniesta.

The two have inevitable drawn comparisons due to their similarities in terms of position on the pitch and playing style, while also representing the same club side and national team.

Read more: Pedri: “I have to be Pedri, but it’s an honour to be compared to Andres Iniesta.”

It comes in the wake of the 18-year-old Pedri being called up to the national squad for the first time ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Greece, Georgia and Kosovo this month.

However, La Roja boss Luis Enrique – who coached Iniesta (who still plays professionally in Japan) during his stint at the Camp Nou – has downplayed the similarities between the midfielders and claimed that such talk would not be beneficial to the teenager.

Read more: Andres Iniesta on Barcelona star Pedri: “He enjoys the ball and he doesn’t look like he’s 18!”

The Spain boss told a press conference on Monday, in quotes carried by El Mundo Deportivo: “Pedri and Iniesta are two different players. Pedri must be allowed to continue making mistakes and getting everything right.

“He is very humble and works and I have known him from his time in the Under-21 team but they are two different players.”

Pedri joined the Blaugrana in an initial €5m transfer from Las Palmas last summer and is widely regarded as one of the best youth products in Spanish football, swiftly establishing himself in the first-team reckoning at the Catalan giants.

Tags Andres Iniesta Luis Enrique Pedri
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