One for the Future : Fermín López from Juvenil A

Fermín López is a player who despite his small size is able to create magic with his football. A player that beats his weaknesses with intelligence is an exceptional technical player that can awe you at any given moment.

Description

Fermín López Marín was born on 11th of May, 2003 in El Campillo, Huelva. Fermín started his football journey at the age of 8 in his local club El Campillo, before making the move to Recreativo de Huelva in 2011. One year later he arrived at Real Betis and joined their Benjamín A squad. During his 4 years span at Betis, Fermin was the top scorer in all the age groups he has played in, despite struggling to adapt to F11 football.

Barcelona was ready to scout him in the La Liga Promises tournament, however, he wasn’t able to participate in it, due to chickenpox. Despite all the interest from all the clubs in Spain. In 2016 Fermin chose to join La Masia from Real Betis academy. Becoming one of the recent additions from Betis academy in the last decade, which includes other well-known youngsters like Gavi and Juan Miranda.

In his first season at Barcelona under the orders of Carles Martinez, Fermin scored more than 20 goals for Infantil A. While in Cadet A, due to stacked midfield that included players like Marc Casado, Xavi Simons, Jorge Alaustey, Txus Alba, Fermin was developed into a left-winger/attacking midfielder. In 2019 he was promoted to Juvenil B. In the 20/21 season, he scored 5 goals, while also contributing with 3 assists. However, in the 21/22 season, he was promoted to Juvenil A, where in pre-season he picked up 3 goals and was the third top scorer behind Victor Barbera and Fabian Luzzi.

Fermin’s contract expires in the summer of 2022 and Barcelona will need to decide on the player’s future whether to promote him to the B team and extend his contract or release him on a free.

Playing style

Similar player: Riqui Puig & Jack Grealish

Fermín López is a right-footed left-winger that also can play as a midfielder. Due to his small size, Fermin always needed to adjust his playing style to compete against taller and stronger opponents. His progression from F7 to F11 wasn’t the smoothest. However, thanks to his intelligence and ability to adapt to difficulties made him one of the top scorers in his youth teams. His work ethic and mentality made him a big game player, with him being decisive in El Clasico’s. Fermin always fights for the ball and doesn’t let it escape from him.

He is a player that has extraordinary vision, creativity, passing ability. That makes him one of the biggest creators of the team. When on the ball his touches are smooth, keeping the ball at his feet as if it’s glued. Great agility, ball control and ability to manoeuvre in tight spaces makes him a very good dribbler. Whenever he plays on the left, he likes to cut inside on his stronger right foot. He is very effective in 1v1 duels with his explosive and skilful movements on the ball and his dribbling ability.

Future at the club

A very entertaining player to watch. However, I don’t see Fermin in the first team at least as of now. However, he could be a great addition to the B team with his versatility and creativity on the ball. As of now, he hasn’t played a prominent role in the Juvenil A team. He’s getting picked behind Txus, Casado, Aleix and Alastuey in the midfield, while on the wing positions, the U19 team has many great players like Josep Cerda and with the upcoming return of Angel Alarcon, Fermin could be soon left out of the first XI.

Eventually, I could see him play in a middle table La Liga club or La Liga Smartbank. Despite me not seeing him in the first team you can never rule out the development of the youngsters and maybe in the future we could see him playing at the top level, either be it at Barcelona or any other team.

Potential Rating: 8/10