Each country has its own version of Messi. For example, Lionel Messi in Egypt is Salah, Messi in Switzerland is Shaqiri, Messi in Germany is Marin and so on. There are many of them who are not worthy of the name, but there are also "outliers" like Salah, whose personal achievements are in the top three among active African players. Shaqiri, although he has performed poorly in the giants, is a thigh-level figure in the national team. Marin is among the players whose performance and development have not reached the expected heights.
In spain, such a traditional football powerhouse also has its own version of Messi, he is Gerald de Ulofiu.
The player, born in 1994, does have similarities with Messi's upbringing. Both were trained in the La Masia academy and showed talent as a junior team. Deulofeu has shown outstanding strength as early as the u12 age group, leading the team to win the championship of the same age group many times and winning the title of the best player in the competition.
A well-known sporting goods company also signed a sponsorship contract with him. Such a situation is extremely rare among underage players. In his youth, Deulofeu won two European runners-up with the Spanish u17 national junior team and the u21 national youth team, and in the u19 national youth team he led the team to win the European championship twice, and he played well in the competition.
However, after joining the Barca team, Deulofeu began his career on loan, where he scored in the top flight for Everton and Sevilla. In June 2015, Everton announced that they had signed Deulofeu for 6 million euros, but Barca had added a buyback clause to the contract, which showed that La Masia recognized his strength and would take him back to the team when the conditions were ripe.
Frankly, Deulofeu's stats in the big four leagues are not bad. Whether it is the Premier League's 127 appearances, 20 goals and 27 assists or the data performance of 13 goals in 39 serie A games. But the basic level of 1 goal in 3 games means that he is only the main player of small and medium-sized teams but not enough to gain a foothold in the big team. Barcelona also have no shortage of such players. So he can only mix in teams like Udinese and Watford.
Deulofeu is not at all related to the giants. He played for Sevilla in La Liga, where he made 28 appearances in a single season and produced 3 goals and 10 assists. In the win over De Coruña, Deulofeu scored an assist hat-trick in 38 minutes.
During his time at the fallen giants Milan, he made 18 appearances in the half season, leaving four goals and three assists.
Whether it's Milan's No. 7 shirt or Udinese's No. 10 shirt, it shows how much the club trusts him. Deulofeu also brushed up 10 goals and five assists in a single season at Watford, but intermittent injuries eventually led him to say goodbye to the Premier League.
As a former talent, one of Deulofeu's achievements was to take Watford to the 2019 FA Cup final. Unfortunately, the team was swept by Manchester City with 6 goals and could only be relegated to the second place. Six titles in his honour book were won during the Barça period, during which time he won the Europa League with the team, but deulofeu did not appear in the final at the time.
After many years, when mentioning his honor of being hailed as Messi in Spain, he cautiously stated that he was not so talented and that it was his honor to be able to compare with Messi. The interview was seen during his time at Milan.
Deulofeu is only 27 years old, and his Udinese is only a small team in Serie A, and it is difficult for him to play for the national team or compete for any championships.