Football Rumors: Barcelona Seeks To Prevent Lionel Messi's New Co-Star From Joining Olympics

One of Lionel Messi’s emerging co-stars in Barcelona might not take part in a prestigious tournament happening this year.

After a successful maiden season with Barcelona’s first team, Pedri went straight to the Euros, having been called up to play for Spain.

Apart from the Euros, Spain is reportedly eyeing to include Pedri in their Olympic squad as the team heads to Tokyo.

However, Barcelona is not in favor of the idea and wants the youngster to withdraw from the said tournament, Spanish outlet Cadena SER reported.

While Pedri has become a key player in Luis Enrique’s side, Barca is said to be worried about the 18-year-old playing for the Olympics after the Euros as the club wants to give him ample time to rest and prepare for the new La Liga season in August, the report said.

Barcelona has taken a step forward in its plea as the report noted the club has already asked the RFEF to leave Pedri out of the Spain squad for the Tokyo Olympics.

Pedri was regarded as one of the most remarkable senior-team debutants of Barcelona this past season.

The teenager has made a total of 52 appearances for the Catalans across all competition and was hyped by the Spanish media as Messi’s new co-star.

For some, Pedri has already been displaying shades of Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta, something Albert Benaiges--the man who discovered the former Blaugrana captain--has deemed premature at this point.

"The first time I discovered Pedri was in Brazil with the U17 (Under-17) team and I thought he was the best player in the team," Benaiges said earlier this year. "I really liked his style. We have to wait and see how he evolves."

"Putting him in the same age group, [Andres] Iniesta had a change of pace that Pedri has not yet shown to have," he pointed out. "Furthermore, it must be taken into account that Iniesta came to Barcelona as a child, whereas Pedri was already much older. Those actions that Andres learned at Barcelona, Pedri does not have them because he has not gone through that process.”

Benaiges stressed that though Pedri is “technically very good,” Iniesta is still a “more complete” player.

"Pedri is an intelligent player, very important to the team, and technically very good,” he stated. "He works hard, he is not aggressive.”

“He is a lot like Andres. But, as for the technical ability of Andres, it was perhaps more complete due to his change of pace. Even now he still has it."