Dro Fernandez: Barcelona's latest La Masia gem poised to follow in Andres Iniesta's footsteps

On January 12, 2008, Dro was born in the coastal town of Nigran to a Spanish father and Filipino mother. At the age of four, he started playing for Val Minor, a renowned local club that was also once home to the Alcantara brothers, Thiago and Rafinha, and former Valencia and Leeds United striker Rodrigo Moreno.

Dro's first steps into football were not easy, but his talent shone through almost instantly, as his first coach, Javier Lago, recently recalled to Telegrafi: “When he arrived at the camp, he was very small and did not even want to train. That day ended in tears, he left with his mother, but returned later. It was all thanks to the persistence of his mother, Ella. And as soon as he entered the field again, two touches of the ball were enough to understand that there was something special in him.”

It is customary for promising footballers based in the Galicia province of Spain to hone their skills on the futsal pitch, and Dro progressed quickly under the watchful eye of Lago and Jose Antonio Covelo, a Barca scout who played for the club in the 1980s. Thanks to Covelo's presence on the Val Minor coaching staff, Barca were able to track Dro's progress up until he turned 14, at which point they won the race for his signature ahead of Real Madrid and Real Betis.

From day one, Dro stood out from his La Masia peers. “I put him on the field against players two years older, but he surprised everyone,” Barca youth coach Anton Davila said of Dro's introduction to training. “He always had a strong defender on his back, but he passed him as he wanted: with his heel, with a turn to the side, with his right foot or his left. He was an inexhaustible source of frustration for opponents.”

Dro only needed two years to break into Barca's Juvenil squad, and he would go on to help the U19s make history in the 2024-25 season.

Under the stewardship of Juliano Belletti, who famously scored Barcelona's winning goal against Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League final, the Juvenil A team won the league, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Youth League to complete a remarkable treble. Dro played a small but significant role in their success, most notably scoring twice in the Youth League group stages, and came on for the last 11 minutes of their 4-1 final victory over Trabzonspor.

He was also handed his first Spain U17 call-up in March, and started in European Championship qualifying games against Germany and Austria. By the summer, Flick was ready to get a closer look at Dro, despite the fact he was still waiting on his debut for Barca's Athletic reserve team, and asked him to report for pre-season training before the squad headed off on a tour of Japan and South Korea.

Preparations began on July 13, and over the next 12 days, Dro did enough to earn a spot on the plane. According to The Athletic, Flick was "hugely impressed" by the teenager, who then made his senior bow for the Blaugrana as a 78th-minute substitute against Vissel Kobe in the first game of the tour.

Dro marked the occasion in style, wrapping up a 3-1 victory with a superb first-time volley from just outside the box. Understandably, he was overcome by emotion after the final whistle as he revealed what Flick had asked of him before he was sent on for Marcus Rashford.

“I didn’t even know how to celebrate, to be honest. It was unbelievable,” he said. “I came in a bit nervous, the first time with the best club in the world, but then the ball came to my feet on the edge of the box and I gave it a go. Hansi and my team-mates calmed me down before the game and I felt so comfortable. Flick told me to do what I know to do with the ball, and then off the ball to push and press as hard as I can.”

Flick rested Dro for the subsequent win over FC Seoul, but started him in Barca's final outing against Daegu. Dro didn't score in the 5-0 win, but was one of the standout performers in the first half as he showed plenty of courage on the ball and linked up well with Yamal.

As a reward for his performances in Asia, Dro was named on the bench in each of Barca's first three La Liga games at the start of the 2025-26 season, but a thigh injury delayed his highly-anticipated competitive debut. It finally came, though, when Barca welcomed Real Sociedad to the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on September 28, as Dro lined up on the right side of a three-man midfield alongside Frenkie de Jong and Pedri.

There were moments when Dro appeared to struggle physically, which is probably why Flick took him off for Dani Olmo at the interval, but the youngster still posted a 92 percent pass completion rate, and his technical quality shone through in the 2-1 victory.

"He's a very talented player. He's a Barca player," Flick said after the match. "It's great to have these kinds of players to be able to manage minutes. I really like that everyone tries to give their best. This is what we need because we have a lot of games."

The following month, Dro started again, this time in a home game against Olympiacos in the Champions League. Barca ran out 6-1 winners, with Fermin bagging a hat-trick in a dominant display from Flick's side. Dro played 59 minutes and provided the incisive pass for Fermin's second goal, which made him the second-youngest player to ever record an assist in the competition, after former Borussia Dortmund star Giovanni Reyna.

"It’s a special day for me, one that I’ll never forget," Dro said when facing up to the media. "I’ve always dreamed of playing in matches like this. I [also] have a strong desire to play in El Clasico." He ended up being an unused substitute as Barca fell to a 2-1 defeat againstReal Madrid four days later, but by the time the two arch-rivals meet again in La Liga in May, it's entirely possible that Dro will be a nailed-on starter.

Dro primarily operates as a No.8, but is versatile enough to play in an attacking midfield role or on the left wing when required. He excels at breaking through the lines, possessing the close control and dazzling footwork to evade defenders effortlessly at speed.

Barca can look to Dro to manufacture space and exploit it. His passing range and positional awareness are remarkable for such a young player, while he also exudes natural composure in everything he does. 

"I think of myself as a technical player," Dro said during Barca's pre-season tour. "I like to dribble past players and have fun on the pitch." You can sense that enjoyment whenever Dro picks the ball up; he's an elegant footballer who doesn't seem to feel pressure.

We haven't seen it at first-team level yet, but Dro is also something of a set-piece specialist. He scored several free-kicks from distance for Barca's U19s, and can potentially be another strong option for Flick in dead-ball situations as the season progresses.

Physically, Dro is still far from the finished article, which is completely normal for a 17-year-old. He's not ready to play 90 minutes two to three times a week for Barca, and does not yet know how best to use his body to win duels. But that will come as he matures, and it has been reported that Dro is now on a tailored plan designed to improve his power and explosiveness.

From a purely technical standpoint, Dro is already way ahead on the development curve. It's now a case of refining his core skills and showing he can be decisive at both ends of the pitch.

Dro has only made three senior appearances to date, and competition for places in Flick's line up is fierce. To make himself indispensable, Dro must start imposing his will on matches, just as Yamal and Fermin did after they graduated from the academy.

“Dro is a talent of Thiago’s level. I have not seen anyone as technical as Thiago, but Dro’s vision of the game is even superior,” Javier Mino, another of Dro's old coaches at Val Minor, said in an interview with Diario Sport in July. That is high praise considering Thiago Alcantara is the greatest success story to ever come out of Val Minor, with the former midfielder boasting 11 league titles and two Champions League crowns across his spells at Barca and Bayern Munich.

But Luis Perez, who worked with Dro from U10 to U12 level, went a step further, saying: “I see more of Andres Iniesta in him.”

Thiago was a fine playmaker, but Iniesta was from another dimension. To be mentioned in the same breath as the man who fired Spain to World Cup glory in 2010 is the biggest compliment Dro could ever receive. Iniesta was a masterful dribbler and passer who could control the tempo of games and sometimes win them singlehandedly with moments of genius.

Perez is right that Dro has a similar aura, along with the speed of thought that made Iniesta so difficult to pin down. His capacity to play in several different positions was also one of Iniesta's strengths. It is far too soon to predict whether Dro can reach the same lofty heights as the Barca icon, but the comparison does not strain credibility. 

Mino and Perez concluded their interview by declaring: "If Dro plays freely, he’s capable of anything; his talent is endless." That goes a long way to explaining why the Barca starlet has been linked with a move to the Premier League in recent months, amid reported interest from Manchester City and Chelsea, but they'd be wasting their time launching a formal approach.

According to Marca, Barca are planning to tie Dro down to a new five-year contract when he turns 18 in January. There is no better place for him to fulfil his immense potential.

Barcelona have re-emerged as one of the best teams on the continent under Flick, and Dro is surrounded by world-class players who can help him take the next step. His minutes will increase as the fixture list piles up, too, because rotation will be crucial for Barca if they are to repeat last season's domestic treble run and have a fighting chance of going all the way in the Champions League.

The first glimpses of Dro's "endless talent" have been tantalising, and what comes next could be truly spectacular.