Barcelona fans now have another talent to pin their hopes and dreams to as 17-year-old Marc Guiu earned his debut against Athletic Club, but who is the imposing striker?
Guiu fulfilled his and every child’s dream by scoring after only 23 seconds against Athletic, which proved to be the game-winner. It’s a dream he’s cherished for a decade, having joined Barcelona at the age of seven. He is from Sant Celoni, a little town around 45 minutes from Barcelona and near Mataro, where Lamine Yamal is also from.
Guiu is not the typical La Masia talent. Tall, orthodox in his number nine movements and hard-working, he gives Barcelona a different sort of threat to perhaps more flexible forwards, something he showed to great effect against the Basques on Sunday evening. He also has a reputation for hard work, especially in defence. Rarely has he been singled out for his technical ability, but he has always been effective and an asset to his teammates. His movement and positioning as a number nine is also one of his great virtues.
Having played just 8 minutes for Barca Atletic, he is currently spending most of his time with the under-19 side, but as has been seen with Gavi, Lamine Yamal and Hector Fort, playing for the B team is no longer a pre-requisite. Sport say he will earn around €60k this year before tax on his first contract, which runs until 2025. No doubt if he continues, his earnings will take a similar path to his social media accounts.
For now it appears as if Guiu will be heading back to the under-19 side. Barcelona must decide whether to register him for their Champions League clash against Shakhtar Donetsk, but in November he is likely to leave with Spain for the under-17 World Cup, making him unavailable until early December if Spain go all the way