Pedri has revealed that Real Madrid rejected him after just one week at their academy before he eventually joined Barcelona, via The Players’ Tribune.
The Barcelona midfielder was invited to train with Madrid as a teenager after impressing for his local team in the Canary Islands, but the experience did not go to plan.
Pedri wrote about how his family initially struggled to understand the interest from some of Spain’s biggest clubs, with Deportivo among those to make contact before Real Madrid invited him to trial.
The trial at Real Madrid
Pedri travelled to Madrid with his father, but found himself isolated from the other academy players, who were already living in the club’s residence and attending classes together.
“I was kind of on my own at the hotel all day with nothing to do but stare at my phone until training,” Pedri wrote.
After just a week, Madrid sent him home. It snowed in the Spanish capital, giving Pedri limited opportunities to train and showcase his talent.
“It wasn’t great for my mentality,” he admitted. “After a week, they sent me home. It was just not meant to be.”
The rejection was difficult for the youngster, who returned to his hometown knowing that his friends and the local community were aware he had failed to make the grade.
“I’ll never forget that everybody back home was so supportive. They said: ‘Don’t worry, your grandfather was never going to let this happen. He was up there somewhere talking to the Big Guy. God made it snow in Madrid that day!’”
His grandfather’s affinity with Barcelona
Pedri’s grandfather was a massive Barca fan who refused to ever set foot in Madrid. In fact, Pedri told a story about how he once refused to step off a plane that had a layover in Madrid before heading back to Tenerife.
“He made a trip with his buddies to see Barca play at the Camp Nou. On the way back, they had a quick layover in Madrid. When the plane landed, everybody got their bags and got off. Except my grandfather. He just sat there in his seat, not moving.
After 10 minutes, the flight attendant came over and told him, ‘Sir, are you OK? You have to leave the plane now.’
He said, ‘Absolutely not. It’s bad luck for a culé. Take me to Tenerife.’
She tried to convince him, but he wouldn’t move.
He said, ‘OK, what if you bring me a wheelchair? Then it doesn’t count, right?’
And guess what? They actually pushed him to the gate.”
Rather than letting the Madrid rejection derail his career, Pedri believes the setback happened for a reason. He subsequently joined the Las Palmas academy, where he spent a year before another major opportunity arrived.
His parents had been receiving calls from clubs but initially kept the interest from him. Eventually, his father told him he had to decide whether to leave Las Palmas or stay.
When Pedri asked which clubs were interested, his father replied: “Well, do you want to make this quick? Because I think when I tell you the one name, you won’t want to hear the rest.”
“Tell me.”
“Barca.”
“OK, that’s it. Let’s go.”
Joining Barcelona as a 17-year-old
Pedri travelled to Barcelona during the COVID-19 pandemic and arrived at training alongside his brother in a taxi, already wearing his new Barca training kit.
When he walked into the players’ area, the first person he saw was Lionel Messi.
“He’s standing in front of me, for real,” Pedri recalled. “I was basically speechless.”
He initially struggled to settle around Barcelona’s senior stars, with Messi, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba all part of the dressing room.
Eventually, Messi noticed Pedri and fellow youngster Francisco Trincao awkwardly lingering in the gym after training and invited them into the dressing room.
Pedri would go on to earn a place in Ronald Koeman’s first-team squad, fulfilling the dream that had begun as a child in his family’s restaurant in Tenerife.
Written by Isabelle Martin
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