Barça midfielder Pedri on ditching his mum's croquettes & scoring more goals

Pedri wants to leave behind the injuries that have prevented him from performing at one hundred percent in recent seasons. To do this, he has taken advantage of the summer to do specific work.

"I've had plenty of time off to prepare myself physically, which is something I wanted to improve, especially to prevent injuries, which I've had a couple of lately that have prevented me from enjoying what I like most, which is football," he said.

"I have done strength work. [The work] the club has set me has helped me a lot as well. And with all the professionals we have, the physios... they give us a hard time, but it's the work we need to do to stay well."

The Canarian explained that he has also changed his diet with the same objective.

"One thing I can't do is eat my mother's croquettes," he added. "I have to eat healthy. I have to listen to the nutritionist. I eat a lot of fish, something I didn't do before."

He also valued the arrival of Ilkay Gündogan as very positive: "It's a spectacle to see how he turns, how he doesn't lose the ball. And I'm sure we're going to enjoy him a lot. It's difficult to see him lose a ball and he transmits a lot of calm."

Barça chose their new captains on Friday. Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong replace Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. Pedri has explained that he received a few votes, but that the choice is the right one: "I'm still young. I'm proud that some of my teammates voted for me, but Ronald and Frenkie deserve it because they are captains on and off the pitch."

Challenges

The Canary Islander has set himself two challenges for the upcoming season. One on a collective level and the other on a personal level. The collective one, the Champions League.

"Last season we had that little thorn in our side [getting knocked out]," he said. "We want to improve and we have a good squad to do something good."

And on a personal level, the offensive aspect: "I think that last year I gave very few assists. I need to get into the box more. I have to improve. I didn't meet the challenge of reaching 10 goals... we have to set the challenge again."