Gavi becomes 14th Under-19s player to debut for Barça B under Garcia Pimienta

This past Sunday, Pablo Páez Gavira ‘Gavi’ became the 14th youth player to debut for Barça B. He made his first appearance at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, in a 6-0 win over L'Hospitalet 

The 16-year-old midfielder came on in the 77th minute to replace Nico, and hit the post with a shot during his 13-minute maiden appearance. 

Gavi came to FC Barcelona in 2015/16 from Betis, joining the Under-11s side that would win the league and Copa Catalunya. After progressing through the ranks, this year he moved up to the Under-19s A team, and has scored 4 goals thus far in 2020/21. He follows in the footsteps of teammates Balde, Ilias, José Marsà and Jaume Jardí in making a first appearance for Barça B this term.

Since Garcia Pimienta took over at Barça B on April 25, 2018, 14 youth players have debuted for the team: Jandro, Konrad, Nils Mortimer, Arnau Tenas and Nico (2018/19), Ilaix Moriba, Peque, Mika and Antonio Jesús Cantón (2019/20), as well as the aforementioned class of this season. Ansu Fati also featured in preseason competition, but was moved directly to the first team.

Average squad age of 19.8 years old

In addition to Gavi's appearance, Ángel Alarcón was on the bench for this past weekend's game, in his latest inclusion in the squad awaiting his debut. Barça B have one of the youngest squads in Segunda B, with an average age of 19.8 years old.