Pedro González López (born 25 November 2002), more commonly known as Pedri, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Known for his passing, distribution, ball-control and vision, he is regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world.
Coming through Las Palmas youth system, Pedri was promoted to the first team in August 2019 at the age of 16, before moving to Barcelona the following season. In his debut season, he played in almost every match as Barcelona won the Copa del Rey and he also won the Golden Boy and Kopa Trophy in 2021, presented to the best young player in the world. Despite facing various injury issues, he established himself as one of the most promising young players in the world, being integral to Barcelona winning a domestic treble of the La Liga title, the Copa del Rey, and the Supercopa de España in the 2024–25 season.
Pedri is a Spain international and former youth international. He made his debut for the senior national team in 2021 and has represented his country at two FIFA World Cups (2022 and 2026) and two UEFA European Championships (2020 and 2024), was named the Young Player of the Tournament at Euro 2020 and played an integral role in Spain's victory at Euro 2024. At the 2026 World Cup, he helped Spain win their second world title.
Born in Bajamar, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Pedri's family moved to Tegueste, a nearby town, when he was three years old. His father, Fernando, played as a goalkeeper in his youth before taking over the family's restaurant. Pedri joined UD Tegueste, starting as a centre-back. At 13, Pedri signed for Laguna, where he played until 2018. Pedri was rejected by Real Madrid after a trial in 2018, where he was told he was not at their level. He was only able to train for a few days because of heavy snow, and based on those limited sessions, Real Madrid sent him home.
Pedri joined Las Palmas's youth setup in 2018 from Laguna. On 15 July 2019, aged only 16, he signed a professional four-year contract with the club, being promoted to the first team by manager Pepe Mel.
Pedri made his professional debut on 18 August 2019, aged only 16, by starting in a 1–0 home loss against Huesca in the Segunda División. He scored his first professional goal on 19 September, with the game's only goal in a home victory over Sporting Gijón and became the youngest goalscorer in Las Palmas history at 16 years, 9 months and 23 days of age.
2019–22: Becoming a starter at Barcelona and Copa del Rey
On 2 September 2019, Barcelona reached an agreement with Las Palmas for the transfer of Pedri, effective as of the following 1 July 2020. The player agreed to a two-year contract with the Catalan club, who paid €5 million for the deal, which would increase as he fulfilled various clauses in his contract. The original framework built into his contract stated that he would not play for Barcelona B unless the reserve team achieved promotion to Segunda División. After Barça B failed to achieve promotion from the third tier, Pedri trained with the first team and convinced then-head coach Ronald Koeman during pre-season training sessions.
Assigned to the main squad for the 2020–21 season and with the number 16 shirt, Pedri made his debut on 27 September, replacing Philippe Coutinho in a 4–0 home win against Villarreal in La Liga. He received his first start on 17 October in a 1–0 away loss against Getafe. On 20 October, Pedri scored his first goal for the club on his UEFA Champions League debut, in a 5–1 win over Ferencváros in the group stage, after coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute for Ansu Fati. On 7 November, in a 5–2 home win over Real Betis, he scored his first goal in La Liga after an assist from Sergi Roberto.
On 6 January 2021, Pedri scored a headed goal against Athletic Bilbao and assisted Barcelona's second goal in a 3–2 win at San Mamés. On 17 April, Pedri won the first trophy of his senior career after Barcelona beat Athletic 4–0 in the Copa del Rey final. On 8 May, at 18 years and 164 days, Pedri made his 50th appearance for Barcelona in all competitions when he started in the 0–0 draw against Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou, thus becoming the second-youngest player to reach this milestone after Bojan Krkić, who was 18 years and 3 days when he reached 50 appearances. In the middle of October 2021 Pedri signed a new contract with Barcelona which contained a record €1 billion ($1.57 billion) release clause.
On 22 November, Pedri won the Golden Boy award presented by Tuttosport for being the best player in European football under the age of 21. The following week he also received the 2021 Kopa Trophy, awarded by France Football, for being the best performing player in world football under the age of 21.
On 13 February 2022, Pedri scored the fastest Derbi Barceloní goal of the 21st century, clocking in at 75 seconds in a 2–2 draw against Espanyol. Later that year, on 14 April, Pedri picked up a hamstring injury during Barcelona's second legged quarter-final Europa League clash with Frankfurt, in which they were eliminated. Subsequently, it was announced that Pedri could miss the rest of the season.
2022–Present: Sustained domestic success and injury issues
On 28 January 2023, Pedri made his 100th appearance in all competitions in a La Liga game against Girona. He was brought on in the 26th minute for injured Ousmane Dembélé and scored the only goal in the match. By the end of the 2022–23 season, he managed to achieve his first La Liga title with Barcelona under coach Xavi.
With the arrival of new manager Hansi Flick at Barcelona in the 2024–25 season, Pedri improved upon his fitness greatly, and enjoyed a strong and largely injury-free start to the season. On 21 January 2025, he assisted Eric García for Barcelona's equalizer against Benfica to make the game 4–4, with Barcelona eventually winning the game 5–4 and securing a top 8 spot in the league phase of the Champions League. Later that month, on 30 January, he extended his contract with the club until 2030. On 26 April, Pedri scored the first goal in the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid and helped the team to win the game 3–2. After Lamine Yamal dribbled through Madrid's defense, he played a pass to Pedri who then scored from outside of the box, curling one into the top left corner and then Barcelona finished the season by lifting La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España, along with a semi-final finish in the Champions League, with Pedri featuring regularly in the team across all competitions.
On 26 October, Pedri was sent off in a 2–1 defeat against Real Madrid after receiving two yellow cards, marking the first red card of his senior career. Three days later, Barcelona confirmed that he had suffered a tear to the distal biceps femoris muscle in his left thigh, which subsequently sidelined him. Up to that point, he had appeared in all of Barcelona’s matches during the season. He returned from injury on 29 November, featuring as a second half substitute for Raphinha in Barcelona's 3–1 victory over Alavés. On 13 December, after starting in a 2–0 win against Osasuna, Pedri became Barcelona's youngest player to make 150 La Liga appearances, a record previously held by Lionel Messi.
Youth and early senior careers
On 21 August 2020, Pedri was called up to the Spain under-21 squad; he later made his debut on 3 September in a 1–0 away win over Macedonia in a qualifying match for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.