Pablo Martín Páez Gavira, Gavi (19 years old, Los Palacios y Vilafranca, Seville), is a unique footballer. On the pitch he combines technical delicacy with an overwhelming will, a mix that rarely occurs in midfielders: either you are the head or you are the lung, but rarely both. Off the field he is still an unknown. Out of shyness, he preferred to gain confidence with words before making himself known. The club sees him ready. He grants La Vanguardia his first long interview. His first responses are short, but when he warms up and gains confidence he lets go. It's hard not to get attached to him. He sounds genuine in a world of mechanized phrases. He pure and unadulterated, like when he plays.
More than a hundred games for Barça and few interviews. Don't you like them?
It's because I'm shy, and I also like to focus on football more, but I'm improving in that aspect, I know I have to do it.
Are you aware of the fan phenomenon unleashed around Gavi?
A little bit, yes, I notice it on the street and through Instagram, but I try to isolate myself from all that.
What do you like to hear most about yourself?
That I am a shy boy, but a good person with everyone. This is how I want to be valued.
Score a goal and kiss the shield. Where does being so culé come from, having been born in a town in Seville?
It comes from seeing the best team in history, the Barça of Xavi, Iniesta and company. Since then I have been a member of Barça and I always will be.
You came to Barça very young, at 11 years old. Were you afraid of moving?
Yes a lot. I remember that two months before I told my parents that I didn't want to come, that I was afraid of finding something. Today I thank my parents, they were the first to know that they should bring me here.
What were you afraid of?
Everything, the Masia... I was very small and I didn't want to leave my town, be separated from my friends. It was a total life change.
And it turns out that the Masia ends up being his home…
Yes, I have spent my entire childhood here, almost since I was conscious, it is everything to me.
The first six months were difficult due to the FIFA sanction against Barça. Gavi, 11 years old, and unable to play. Hard to imagine. A caged lion.
I couldn't stand without playing, for me it's like breathing. So I solved it as best I could. I decided to join a futsal league at the school where I was studying.
How lucky for your team. They had to win everything...
He scored four or five goals in each game. We won everything, except the day we played in the League.
What happened?
That day I played my first game with Barça. I could not go. My classmates at school still reproach me for it.
The first year he lived in Barcelona with his parents…
Yes, on Balmes Street, but after a year I told them to leave calmly. That I wanted to live in the Masia.
Which players did you idolize then?
Especially Iniesta, but also Isco and Verratti.
The most technical. You control both legs. Did you learn it or does it come naturally to you?
When I was little I already got like that. In fact, I always say that inside the area I shoot better with my left, I finish better that way, it comes naturally to me.
Let's make it clear: you are inside.
I always have been, inside left.
Now he plays there more.
Xavi already knows where I am most comfortable, but he always trusts me a lot and in each game he decides where I do it and I try to do it well for the coach. Give everything.
He dominates both legs, he does well in duels, also with his head... Is there any facet where you see room for improvement?
Compared to last year I have improved in pausing the timing of the plays, also in going to the divided balls without being so necessary.
Is it a personal work or Xavi's?
Xavi tries to improve me, he talks to me a lot.
Aren't you afraid of getting hurt sometime in those split balls?
Sometimes I review the replayed game, I look at myself in some action and I think: “Holy shit, how did I think of doing that?” But my mother suffers more than me, she always tells me not to get into fights and she gets very scared. But in the end it is football.
Do you consider yourself tough as a footballer?
I consider myself a fighter, until the end, and I will never lose that.
Last year, from Madrid, he had a campaign that classified him as an excessively tough player. Did he reach you? Did he bother you?
I was conscious, but I was calm. Xavi helped me and I didn't care what certain people said.
What is indisputable is that you take losing very badly...
Well, I have improved compared to the lower categories. Any coach could tell you...
But what were you doing? Not knowing how to lose is not so bad...
Let's say I had a pretty bad time and my teammates in training paid for it. He was losing my mind, it was bad for me to lose.
What would you be capable of doing for Barça?
Everything, I would do everything, anything.
In the summer, with so many signings, Gavi disappeared from the forecast in the starting eleven... Now no one would take him out of there.
I trust myself a lot, that's what matters to me. And Xavi insists on chatting, on improving me, and I appreciate that. The coach has been one of the best players in history in my position.
You are 19 years old and you are already a reference for players who are rising, like Lamine Yamal…
I wouldn't have imagined it when I was little, but yes. I try to calm them down, give them encouragement. I had Busi, Jordi [Alba]… I know that it is very important to feel that support.
Which player do you particularly admire from the current squad for their professionalism?
Frankie, Frankie.
Is his loss noticeable?
Damn, quite a bit, just like Pedri's.
Well, De Jong was for sale two summers ago…
At that moment I was screwed, I didn't want him to leave and I told him so. Thank goodness he didn't leave and is still with us.
Do you enjoy playing? That is important…
Above all, this season I am enjoying it a lot more. We are doing things better.
With the Joãos there was chemistry right away.
They are both very good and have adapted quickly. João Félix is in my band and I can associate more with him, but I look for them both. Without them we would not have been able to make any progress this season.
How do you see Madrid? Stronger?
They have significant casualties. But it is a always winning club.
Last year you won the League and this year you are finally required to do well in the Champions League.
We have to go as far as possible, we are Barça, as the coach says. Winning it with Barça is one of my dreams, if not the first, it is what all culés dream of.
Porto's match is the key match in the group stage. Do you think about it a lot before games?
Yes, especially before the important ones. I think about how he is going to go and I usually imagine scoring a goal. Thoughts…
How many goals do you see yourself scoring this season?
With Iván de la Peña, my representative, we have talked about reaching ten. I already have two.
Outside the area the shot doesn't prove much.
I have to see it very clearly, it is still difficult for me, I have to dare.
Do you see yourself playing your whole life at Barça? In today's football that is almost impossible.
I wish it could be like that, happier than I'm not going to be anywhere in Can Barça.
