How Las Palmas are making a path for the next Pedri as new wonderkid follows Barcelona star
Alberto Moleiro understands the comparisons with Barcelona and Spain star Pedri, even if there are as many differences as there are similarities between the pair.
Attacking midfielder Moleiro, 20, got his break in UD Las Palmas‘ first team not long after Pedri made the move to Camp Nou. He might be a bit more attack-minded than his predecessor, but the path of homegrown talent to first-teamer is a familiar one for the club from the Canary Islands.
Under the guidance of former Barcelona B coach Garcia Pimienta, Las Palmas won promotion last season and have punched well above their weight this term. Victory over Almeria on Sunday would take them to the magical 40-point mark, allowing them to even dream of European qualification.
Moleiro played his part in the promotion push as a teenager and scored his first La Liga goal this term. Further success could see bigger clubs come calling, but rather than worrying about their top talents being poached, Las Palmas take pride in seeing one of their own thrive elsewhere.
“I feel proud, really proud, when people compare me with him, but we’re very different in the way we play,” Moleiro says. “It is true that I like many players. I like Pedri, I like Fermin from FC Barcelona.
“I like any footballer who likes the ball, who likes to play with the ball. I always love that, and there are many out there who stand out because of that.”
Las Palmas have a young squad, but there are also some more experienced heads helping them thrive. The Barcelona connection is clear there as well, with former Everton forward Sandro and ex-Sevilla man Munir both beginning their football education in La Masia a decade or so ago.
“Yes it is true that Sandro for example has helped me a lot,” Moleiro says of the 28-year-old, who was born in Las Palmas and spent time in their academy before moving to Catalunya at 14. “He always advises us, the young players.
“He’s a very good help inside and outside the pitch. Munir, Sandro, these are people with vast experience and they always help us a great deal. They tell us not to worry, just to play the way we know how to play, because this will allow us to be ourselves.
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Moleiro recognises the efforts of the club to drill the ‘Canary style’ into its players. It’s a more technical approach, instilled from academy football right up to the first team, and its something which the club’s higher-ups take pride in seeing elsewhere.
CEO Patricio Vinayo points to the club’s geography as a factor in how they play football. The Canary Islands take influence from Europe, Africa and South America due to their location, and the technical football which has produced players like Moleiro and Pedri borrows from all three footballing culture.
“The so called tiki-taka by which the Spanish national team was known, winning the World Cup [in 2010] and the two Euros [in 2008 and 2012], had already a historical reference in Union Deportivo Las {almas because of its associative spirit, because of its style,” Vinayo says.
“That is well represented with a phrase in our changing rooms which is ‘none of us is better than all of us together’. This lies at the foundation of a different football that only becomes up to date to address a challenge that may seem exotic in modern footballl.”
While some clubs of Las Palmas’ side might shy away from being dubbed a selling club, the Spaniards have embraced it. Sporting director Luis Helguera doesn’t just take pride in producing talent for other sides – he even makes a point of emphasising his club cater to the market when it comes to developing players.
When asked which other clubs whose example he looks to follow, he name-checks Premier League sides Brighton and Aston Villa as well as the likes of Ajax, Reims and Union Berlin. There is also an acknowledgement of what buying clubs are after, and the need to cater to that market, but it’s hard to see a world where clubs like Barcelona won’t be after talents like Pedri.
“The difference between finding the right talent and developing it is that Barcelona found it, we developed it!” Helguera says. “We try to detect this talent at a very young age – at the age of 12 or 13 – and we believe in the development of a player, and over four or five years we must develop the skills they need.
“It is also true that we have a model which is not to sign the best one in the team but the most valid one; the most valuable one to develop our model. They know that. In the scouting and in the signing department, we need to identify and detect talent, and the right player to develop our model – not just or necessarily the best player, because the characteristics may not be in line with our model, there may be a clash there.
“But we have no problem selling players like Pedri or like Moleiro or any other for that matter, because we truly believe in what we do, in the work we do, and in how we develop our players and how we provide them with the tools so they can grow. So for sure, very soon you will see young players at ages 17, 18 or 16, playing in the first team. This is a way we understand football and that’s the way we do things here.”
Las Palmas have seen results dip a little of late, with no wins in the last four, but they did come back from 2-0 and 3-1 behind to take a point at Getafe. Next up is a meeting with Almeria, and a chance to complete a league double over their rivals after a late winner in the reverse fixture.
The season as a whole, thugh, has been testament to the club’s faith in youth. The higher-ups have successfully sold a message to youngsters arriving from the mainland or further afield, and Moleiro is neither the first nor the last.
“They need to develop the young players and take them to the elite, as it happened with me, with Pedri, I could mention many more,” he says. “And I think that when Las Palmas knock on your door, players won’t think twice, because this club is a club that focuses on young players, developing young players, with football that is nice to watch, very skilful football, and this benefits the club, and the Canary Islands of course.”
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