Pedri for the Ballon d'Or? Barcelona's midfield maestro deserves his place in the Golden Ball debate after spellbinding season

Now's a good time to remind you that Pedri is still only 22. Yet he has played 232 senior games at club level, plus 32 for the Spanish national team. All the while, he has been the poster boy of burnout and overexposure to too much football too soon.

Despite missing 88 matches already in his career through various muscle and knee injuries, Pedri has not let his standards slip. There is still a spritely yard of pace in both his legs and brain that makes him so difficult to dispossess, so gifted at spraying passes left and right. It would have been very easy for him to shrink away from responsibility, but he has instead endeavoured to take it on regardless of the physical hurdles he's had to overcome.

"I've experienced all the situations," Pedri explained in an interview with Catalunya Radio. "At first it was all praise, then the criticism came and now the praise has returned. I've experienced both sides of the coin. They said I was made of glass, that it hurt me a lot.... When you get criticised so much, you want to give more of yourself and shut those mouths that talk about you like that. And beyond shutting those mouths, what you want to do is enjoy yourself. And now I'm doing it, which I haven't done for a long time."

Pedri's slick style earned him comparisons with Barca great Andres Iniesta from an early age, and they only intensified when he swapped the Canary Islands of Las Palmas for Catalunya in 2020. Nevertheless, he has still managed to meet expectations set of him so far.

"By watching so many matches on TV, watching videos of Andres or Xavi, I think something sticks with you," Pedri recently told UEFA. "You try to copy them, you try to practice it, but it's tough to be at that level. So, you try to improve every day so that, one day, you can do what they did.

"I would often watch an Iniesta video, who was my idol, and I would try to copy what he did in the video, or what he did in a specific play, how he protected the ball. You sometimes try to copy them; other times, you struggle because it's tough, but you still try to do it in the best way possible."

The only price Barcelona have ever had to pay for years of arguable mismanagement was the enforced departure of Lionel Messi. Who, you know, is literally the best player in the history of football, so it's not like they got off scot free. They did, however, manage to regain their La Liga crown within two years of that exit and have since built an exciting team of young talent, even if that has partially been enforced by the various financial constraints restricting their market movement.

Alongside Pedri and Yamal, the likes of Pau Cubarsi, Gavi, Fermin Lopez, Alejandro Balde and Gerard Martin have been allowed to spread their wings, with Hansi Flick continuing the legacy started by his predecessor, Xavi. What Pedri has claimed has helped Barca is Flick's paternal presence: "He is like a father to us. He always tries to take care of us. He's there to support you if you're not playing, and he always tries to help you. He looks strict from the outside, but he always stands by us when going through a bad time. He speaks to you, asks what's wrong.

"It was hard to adapt [to the high line], especially when I was watching it from the outside during pre-season and they were implementing it. But from the very start, I think the team has done it really well and when it works, and you see that something is going well with the coach's idea, I think it gives you much more confidence."

Under Flick, Barcelona have rediscovered their mojo and become one of Europe's most excitingly potent teams again. Gambling with an aggressive high line has paid dividends already in the form of the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana, with two further trophies up for grabs and well within Barca's reach - they sit four points clear atop La Liga with five games to go and face an out-of-form Inter in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

By the raw numbers and in a team that already houses a luxurious plethora of scoring options, Pedri is still enjoying a fine season. In 52 games - a tally only bettered by fellow Copa hero Jules Kounde - he has popped up with six goals and seven assists, and there is still a month of the campaign still to go.

Looking deeper uncovers the further extent of Pedri's impact. Pull up a chair and get ready for some number crunching. Per stats gurus FBRef, he ranks in the top 10 in La Liga in the following categories: expected assists (fourth), key passes (fourth), passes into final third (first, fourth in Europe's top five leagues), passes into the penalty area (second, eighth in Europe's top five leagues), progressive passes (first, third in Europe's top five leagues), through balls (second, fourth in Europe's top five leagues), shot-creating actions (fourth), goal-creating actions (10th), blocks (eighth), touches (second), successful take-ons (eighth), progressive-carrying distance (sixth) and points-per-match (eighth).

And breathe. That is a staggeringly stuffed stat sheet. Even still, Pedri wants more. He recently claimed: "What could I improve? Many things. You can always lose fewer balls, you can always improve your goal tally, choose better when it's time to speed up or calm down the game... Everything can be improved."

An extra wrinkle to Pedri's rise is the mirroring of what's going on over in the Spanish capital. While Barca are largely relying on homegrown and organic solutions, Real Madrid are still living and dying by flashy imports from abroad as they have always done. The Clasico rivalry is built on all sorts of parallels and squad-building is just one of them.

In the white corner, Jude Bellingham is the midfielder being built around. Both he and Pedri enjoyed superb Copa finals - the Spanish press were particularly generous in their assessment of the Englishman - but it was the Barcelona boy wonder who emerged triumphant. It was but a glimpse into how their matchups could look for the next decade.

You don't need to look far to discover narrative in these duels, and one as present as Pedri vs Bellingham on the very surface is helpful. For neutrals, it brings another spectacle in itself. For Pedri and Bellingham, they can use it to push one another to the limit, a la Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pedri has already captained Barcelona in spite of his age. He is a leader in Flick's dressing room and on the pitch, a football brain to go with his football feet. With Yamal, Raphinha and Lewandowski his leading co-stars, there's no reason why Barca can't win a quadruple this season.

But Pedri is trying not to think about if they fall short. "It wouldn't really be a disappointment given the path that has brought us here, because we have done very well so far. But it is clear that it would hurt us," he insisted.

The seeds are sewn for this Barca team of blood and thunder, of thrill and fury to conquer Spain and Europe. You can see how this story would be reverse engineered. In the cases of Pedri and Yamal, they already have international pedigree after winning Euro 2024 last summer. This could quite easily be an iconic Barcelona side in the making, and they are only a few more wins away this season from starting up that legend.

"It's clear we don't have to be afraid of any team," Pedri said prior to the Copa final. "We're Barca and we’re going to try to control the game against everyone."

Rodri's Ballon d'Or triumph of 2024 seemed to herald in a new era of the award in the post-Messi and Ronaldo duopoly. Impact on winning appears to be more of a factor than before, and the Manchester City midfielder's Golden Ball has already aged well considering their collapse with him out injured this season. Though it's not his primary aspiration, Pedri has his own sights on Parisian glory.

"Since Rodri won it, it's shown that a player who runs the midfield and dictates the tempo and the rhythm of the game can win a Ballon d'Or," he said. "I was really pleased he won it because aside from the season he had, I really enjoy playing with him when I’m with the national team. He's a player who controls the game really well, wins the ball back, gets forward, scores goals - he's everywhere on the pitch.

"It's always been a dream of mine to lift the Ballon d'Or. But right now, there's a month to go, and the focus is on the team - on winning the three trophies, which is what really matters and once that month's over, we'll see if we can start talking about things like that."

It might be that Pedri needs some more moments of his own on Barca's Champions League run if he is to oust competition from Yamal, Raphinha and Lewandowski. Regardless, at least the world is starting to pay more attention to his genius.