Gavi has only just turned 18, but his journey from the dusty playing fields of Andalusia to Barcelona star and now the World Cup bears all the hallmarks of a potential great.

“He still thinks he’s in the schoolyard,” joked his father Pablo Paez when asked about the irresistible rise of a boy playing with his laces undone and tongue pressed firmly inside his cheek.

A combative, urgent presence on the pitch, Gavi snaps into challenges with the work-rate of a midfield hatchet-man, but on the ball offers the creativity the world demands from a Barcelona playmaker.

Click here for full story. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.