Hard times are coming for FC Barcelona in economic terms, so the signing policy must change urgently. The club’s most recent success is, undoubtably, the signing of the youngster Pedri González from Las Palmas, and Barça is looking for other young talents around Spain to repeat the formula. The last name to pop up is Iván San José “Chuki”, from Real Valladolid.
The progress that Pedri has shown after being signed (the youngest first team player in the team) had produced excellent results. Pedri is dazzling the world of football with his incredible quality, and Barça spent just 5 million euros to bring him to Barcelona, even though there are some clauses that could (and sure will) raise the final amount. But the most interesting part about the arrival of the Canary midfielder is the steps the club traced to be respectful with his original club and his own environment.
Barça signed Pedri back in 2019, when the player was just 16. He was being important in Las Palmas and growing at a tremendous pace, so the Catalan club decided to let him stay for another year before he was finally presented with the Blaugrana. Both Las Palmas and his family were happy with the agreement, and once the final move has been done, his performance has proven that timings were perfect.
Given the current economic situation, Barça is trying to repeat the method with other young players and Iván San José, nicknamed as “Chuki”, is on the list, according to Catalan newspaper “Sport”. He’s an offensive midfielder currently playing for Real Valladolid. He’s 16 and competing with the “Juvenil B” team, although he’s already played with “Juvenil A” coached by the football legend Julio Baptista, the next step in youth teams. He is in the exact same situation that Pedri was when the deal was done.
“Chuki” is more of an offensive midfielder than Pedri is. While the last one tends more to creative tasks, “Chuki” likes to shoot the ball. Last season he scored 21 goals, and he’s not even a striker. Left-footed, he’s an excellent free-kick taker, and has a natural talent to sneak into the defensive lines. We could think about him like a more goal-focused Pedri or a less right-sided Collado.
At this moment, Valladolid’s “Juvenil B” is unbeaten, and just received their first goal against in their last match after 7 games without conceding. They scored 24 goals in 8 games, so their attack is being beyond productive leaded by San José. The club owned and presided by Ronaldo Nazario has prevented a possible exit of the player by signing “Chuky” to a professional contract. This means he’ll have a release clause (unknown by now) and it won’t be easy for Barça to sign him.
Valladolid will have many other offers for the starlet, but Barça wants to repeat the Pedri method and catch another bargain. Meanwhile, the Catalan club just keeps watching him closely and waiting for the whole contract to be analysed to decide whether if they want to make an effort for him or take the risk of he becoming a fearsome rival in the future.
