Marc Guiu, the same scout for Lamal, Xavi's campuses and many centimeters: "He was a head taller than everyone"
They say that Marc Guiu is already 1.87 meters tall and that at 17 years old he still has to grow more, perhaps until he reaches Erling Haaland's 1.94 meters, a mirror for any current forward. They say that Marc Guiu spent a season blank at the age of 13, during his cadet days, because his early growth spurt led to back pain.. They say that Marc Guiu came to Barcelona at the age of seven thanks to his “differentiating physique”, because “he was a head taller than all his teammates and at the same time he knew how to move, he was very coordinated.”
Barça has a new pearl, Marc Guiu, who stands out above all for his height: suddenly, a huge forward. The teenage scorer capable of scoring in the League against Athletic 33 seconds after making his debut in the first team and being called up for today's Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk is a rarity coming from La Masia, school of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi, doctrine of the touch, the low ball as dogma. How is it possible?
With goals, of course. In the youngest A, for example, Guiu scored 47 goals in 26 games; in the youth team A, 21 in 15 games and so on: this season he had five in five games with the youth team A before Barça Athletic called him and the first team. Although his uncombinative style does not fit into the classic Barça style, his nose for the goal has allowed him to climb the steps until he reaches the sky.. And he did it quickly, very quickly.. How it started.
AFP
“Marc came to our school at the age of five and already stood out for his physique,” Óscar de Haro, coordinator of the Penya Barcelonista Sant Celoni, the club where Guiu started, explains to EL MUNDO.. «In fact, he only lasted two seasons with us. In his second year as a junior we called a Barça scout that we knew, they gave him two or three days of tests at the Ciutat Esportiva and they took him away,” recalls De Haro and in the name of the scout, a curiosity.
In the same year, Isidre Gil, Barça's historic scout in the area around Granollers, recommended the club sign Guiu and Lamine Yamal, who played in La Torreta, 20 kilometers from Sant Celoni.. Guiu and Yamal, in fact, shared many afternoons in a taxi from home to training and from training to home until, as youths, they went to live at La Masia almost at the same time so they could also practice in the mornings.
The back and luck
Guiu, whose family lives in Santa Maria de Palautordera, but has always lived in the next town, Sant Celoni – he studied at the Cor de María school, where they remember his drawing skills – was never interested in the king of sports. in the area, handball, and always wanted to shine in football. So much so that, as a child, he participated every summer on the campus of who is now his coach, Xavi Hernández.. So much so that he did not give up in 2019, at the age of 13, when he missed his season in cadet B because his back was tormenting him.. With patience and strengthening the area, he moved forward and then luck smiled on him. With the departure of Iker Bravo to Bayer Leverkusen, the club decided to promote Hugo Alba to the youth team, the benchmark of his generation, and Guiu remained as the only striker in the cadet A. In 20 games he scored 13 goals and regained his place in the culé quarry.
«He is a great boy, from a very normal family. “I'm sure they are helping him to cope with everything that is happening to him,” says De Haro, who assures that he follows his games in Barcelona and in the youth categories in Spain.. Last summer, in fact, Guiu was the top scorer at the U-17 European Championship – four goals, tied with Yamal and two Germans – and yesterday he was called up for the U-17 World Cup to be held this November in Indonesia.. With a professional contract with the Barça club since February 2022, that is, since he turned 16, he will now possibly have to negotiate a renewal to increase his salary – currently between 50,000 and 80,000 euros – and his termination clause.. Barça, suddenly, has a huge forward.