Youth Report: Gerard Deulofeu.

"Neymar, Deulofeu and Messi. That's how the world's top 3 players will be in the next few years. IF Deulofeu can keep his head down and work." Guillem Balague explained this to me at one of his book promotions. 

Though it is not just Guillem, many worldwide renown journalists have tipped Deulofeu to be the next Lionel Messi.

High praise indeed for such a young man, at just 18 years of age. 

Many may think that he's just another over-hyped youngster from Barcelona's world famous La Masia, but my friends if you are one of those, you are wholly mistaken. He has already been a major part of Spain's recent youth success and is beginning to make sporadic appearances for the first team, mainly in the Champions league. Convinced now?

 For me, along with Vitkor Fischer and a few others, Deulofeu is one of the biggest talents in the world. His mesmerising and devilishly direct dribbling style has everyone watching constantly on the edge of their seats. It's not just his dribbling though, the young Spaniard has improved his finishing greatly, so much so that he has eclipsed his career goal tally after just 22 games this year, netting 13 times. Already rumoured to be linked with Liverpool and many other clubs around Europe, I doubt it will be much longer until Barcelona put a ridiculous buy-out clause in his contract as his stock has risen considerably this year, especially due to his ability to play across the front 3 make him even more desirable. His impact for Spain at all youth levels has been impressive, but none more so than for the Under 21's, where he has scored 3 times in 5 games, a better ratio than at all other levels and it surely won't be long before he gets a first team call-up. Not to mention his assists (I don't have the stats sadly), but there is an unbelievable one. (see below) It's not just on the odd occasion, Deulofeu does this a lot, his dribbling is just, wow.

The only thing that could beat Deulofeu, will be himself. Many people believe that being so young, with all the Messi comparisons and expectations to do well may lead the young man to go off course and loose track of his goals. Another place where he lacks is when he doesn't have the ball for long periods, he can be invisible and then once he gets the ball can be ineffective and lose interest in the game completely. However, if involved from the start, his skill and guile can bamboozle and win his team games with a moment of magic.

So, where do I think he'll end up?

Leading Barcelona's frontline and scaring defences for years to come, of course. This young man has all the talent in the world, and some. For me, he will be one of the world's best players, he is far too good not to be. I can't wait until he properly breaks through into the Barcelona first team and proves to everyone what he can do. Honestly, if you can catch any Barca B games they are well worth a watch, mainly because of Deulofeu. If he can keep his head, he will without doubt become a world beater and if he continues to improve at all aspects, he too will have a buy-out clause similar to Messi's.

Hope you all enjoyed!

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