Pedri is La Roja’s new number ten.
The Barcelona midfielder wore it at the RCDE Stadium on Thursday night as the Spanish national team beat Albania 2-1.
And it doesn’t seem likely it’s going to be taken away from him.
The last player to wear it was Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara, during the 2018 World Cup in Russia and Euro 2020.
It’s a number made famous by the likes of Diego Maradona, Pele, Zico, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane.
And while it’s early to say that Pedri is going to have a career to rival such men he’s certainly on the right path.
The boy from the Canary Islands joined Barcelona at the age of 17 in the summer of 2020 according to Marca.
He quickly became a mainstay in Ronald Koeman’s team and soon earned international recognition and a senior Spanish call-up.
Against Albania he was in fine form, playing with increased verticality, unafraid of testing the opposition goalkeeper. He touched the ball 99 times and misplaced just ten passes.
