With the monetary implications that Barcelona have been going through prior to now few years, the rise of a younger participant from their famed La Masia academy has been an enormous reduction to the membership’s hierarchy. The reason being easy: a brand new star being developed inside a membership will value far lower than a participant of comparable high quality on the closely inflated switch market. And the newest product of their youth academy is Marc Guiu.
The 17-year-old introduced his arrival in fashion, scoring the profitable objective for the Catalans in opposition to Athletic Bilbao. This helped Barcelona maintain tempo with league leaders Actual Madrid, who’re one level forward.
Guiu has been described as the most effective abilities to return out of the membership lately. Nonetheless, just some would have anticipated him to attain his first objective on his debut, the place he solely had 11 minutes to make an impression.
So, who’s Marc Guiu, and the way good is he?
Marc Guiu profile
Marc Guiu Paz was born on January 4, 2006, in Granollers, Barcelona province. Rising up in Catalonia, Guiu grew up as a Barcelona fan. In reality, he began his footballing profession at Penya Barcelonista Sant Celoni, a membership run by the followers of Barcelona. The younger striker performed three years on the membership earlier than his dream of taking part in for Barcelona got here true.
Becoming a member of La Masia in 2013, Guiu by no means appeared again. {The teenager} made fast progress within the varied age teams. Guiu’s rise was so fast that he by no means performed lengthy for a sure age group, gaining fast promotion.
When the 2023-23 season started, Guiu bought his first style of the senior staff on the membership after getting known as up within the pre-season. Whereas he performed no half within the first recreation in opposition to Celta de Vigo, he did come on as an alternative to Robert Lewandowski within the second recreation in opposition to Japanese facet Vissel Kobe.
Regardless of that, nobody would have anticipated the teen to get an opportunity as quickly because the season started. Xavi, nevertheless, had different concepts as he named Guiu on the bench in opposition to Athletic Membership. With Lewandowski unavailable for the sport, Xavi turned to the teen looking for a objective.
And he did present it with a brilliant run to first beat the offside lure earlier than calmly slotting the ball between the legs of Unai Simon. The shot that led to the targets was his third contact of the sport.
Marc Guiu fashion of play
Barcelona youth coach Ivan Carrasco has described Guiu as a typical quantity 9 who makes use of his explosive burst of tempo, which he confirmed for his first skilled objective. Standing at 1.87 metres, Guiu has the bodily body to carry off the ball from the opponents. On prime of that, he can even shortly function with the ball at a excessive tempo, which might be very useful for him, particularly with Xavi hoping to make use of him for the final elements of a recreation the place the opposition might be drained.
Guiu additionally gained aerial duels in his 11-minute keep on the pitch, which exhibits he isn’t averse to placing stress on the defenders. Nonetheless, he’s nonetheless removed from a completed product, and solely common minutes in La Liga will assist verify his strengths and weaknesses extra.
Marc Guiu potential
When a participant scores for Barcelona at 17, he’s sure to be a substantial expertise. Nonetheless, for the primary time of asking, Guiu has been thrown on the deep finish by Xavi and has carried out. Whereas this objective will give him excessive confidence, the opposition might be extra cautious of him.
For now, one of the best factor he can do is to maintain working onerous with the B staff whereas additionally taking part in bit elements within the senior staff. How far he’ll go stays to be seen, however the beginning indicators are promising.