In Barca's match against Athletic Bilbao, young player Pedri did not perform well, and many fans thought he was too tired. In an interview, Rivaldo talked about the possibility of a bottleneck for young players, and although Pedri was tired last season, his growth path was very smooth and he had not experienced many setbacks before. Now that Messi has bid farewell to Barcelona, the club is facing a lot of turmoil, and the environment in which young players grow up has changed. The expectations of the outside world for Pedri are very high, they hail the youngster as the "new Iniesta", which makes the pressure on young players increase in vain, will Pedri encounter a bottleneck period? Camp Nou star Valdés believes that the Red and Blue Army is more reliable to train young players, and at this stage, the team's resources should be tilted towards talented teenagers, and the club will have the hope of continued development.
At the end of last season, Valdés agreed to Laporta's offer when he said he was willing to answer Barca's first team as goalkeeper coach. Originally, he was ready to take up his post in Koeman's coaching staff, but the departure of the king of the game made Valdés change his plans - the legendary goalkeeper also received an invitation to "Messi's renewal celebration", but unfortunately the stay celebration turned into a departure conference, which made the club's meritorious players change their views on management. Valdés, who is already a straight-talking player, said: "I reconsidered my job at the team. It can be seen that the team's celebrities do not trust the management led by LaPorta, and he hopes that the Red and Blue Army will develop young players, which may be the way out for the club in the "post-Messi era".
Valdés explained why young players hit a bottleneck – a "rookie wall" of multiple factors. Pedri officially played for Barca last season and his progress at Camp Nou has been very fast. First of all, Valdés thinks he will soon be able to stand out from the competitive clubs, which is where the "new Iniesta" is remarkable. Bearing in mind that Barcelona are very crowded in terms of midfield personnel, it is already remarkable that Pedri can be the main player. He was also able to triple jump into Spain and play in the European Championship, which is enough to show that he has improved very quickly. The upswing period also has a back-up: the talented teenager's second season in La Liga, he is prone to targeted defense by opponents, which is the so-called "second-year rookie wall".
Strictly speaking, this season is Pedri's second season in La Liga, and his previous performances may be due to opponents not being familiar with his playing style. Now that other clubs know the strength of the talented teenager, the author believes that Athletic Bilbao's targeted tactics in this game are obvious, which is the embodiment of the bottleneck period for young players in terms of tactics. Since Pedri is now less than 19 years old and his body is in a period of development, if his height and weight change, then he will have to practice again in terms of technical movements. Ordinary players are still in the youth team at this age, they have enough time and energy to lay the foundation, while Pedri needs to play on multiple fronts in the Barca first team, and he simply does not have time to hone his basic skills.
Therefore, it is normal for Pedri to encounter a bottleneck period, and how this talented teenager copes with the bottleneck period is what the Barcelona coaching staff and management need to solve. Valdés believes that it is more reliable for the Red and Blues to train young players, which is the solution proposed by the legendary goalkeeper. At this stage, Camp Nou's midfield stars are still surplus, Griezmann has been unable to find form, whether Coutinho can return to peak form after injury is unknown, and busquets' decline in form is almost inevitable after his age. Valdés feels that everyone has entered a misunderstanding - why do the Red and Blues need to choose from veterans at the core of the "post-Messi era"? Can't Koeman give young players some chances?
Pedri got a lot of playing opportunities, but after the departure of the meiqiu king, the author felt that he seemed to be getting farther and farther away from the core of the midfield - last season he played in the front and stood on top of Xiaobai's previous position. However, in the new season, Koeman placed Pedri on the wing, and although the youngster did well as a full-back in the European Cup, he had no advantage in terms of speed and impact. After Messi bid farewell to Camp Nou, Valdés believes that Barca's foundation in young players cannot be lost, and the new core is more reliable to cultivate from young players, so as to help Pedri cope with the bottleneck period. After Fati returns from injury, Valdés hopes Coman will give the talented teenager more chances as well.