Well, it’s official. Barcelona have signed Pau Victor, a 22-year old striker, for 3 million euros. If reports are to be believed, should he not be loaned out this summer, Victor will be a part of the first team as a backup striker. Who is he, why did Barca sign him, and why should we be excited?
Born in November 2001 in a small town north of Barcelona, not too much is known of Victor’s childhood, but it is known that nearly 6 years after his birth in May 2007, his brother Guillem Victor was born. Guillem seemed to be the better footballer in the family, being scouted early by Barcelona and remaining in their youth setups still to this day, meanwhile Pau went to Sabadell’s youth ranks, a club switching between the 2nd and 3rd tiers of Spanish football.
In 2018, Pau joined the youth ranks of Girona, where he started to do well in their youth teams, progressing swiftly to the B-Team. After a few years, Victor was loaned back to Sabadell, playing frequently in his season there, but scoring a disappointing 7 goals and assisting 6 in 36 matches.
However, in 2023, The scouts for the B-Team of Barcelona saw something in Pau Victor, and signed him on a loan with an option to buy, if it went well. Spoiler: it went well.
In the 2023/24 season with the B-Team of Barcelona, Victor just kept scoring. In only his second match, against Real Union, he scored and assisted in a 2-1 victory, winning man of the match. Victor then scored a go-ahead goal which would eventually be clawed back in a 2-2 draw with Fuenlabrada, scored twice in a 2-0 win against Tarazona, and kept up his form to end the season with 18 league goals and 6 assists in 35 matches. He also ended up scoring twice in a 7-4 aggregate victory against Ibiza in the promotion playoffs, and assisted one in a 3-2 aggregate loss in the final.
Despite all this, Barcelona ended up not triggering his purchase option, which made it look like he would return to Girona for 24/25, but Barcelona ended up wanting to keep him anyway, and have now signed him, with intentions of keeping him in the first team dynamics, after Marc Guiu’s departure and a potential Vitor Roque departure.
After looking at clips of him playing, he seems like a good poacher-type striker, to put on if behind, as another player up there to try to figure things out. He’s also looked decent in link up play, and able to beat a man or two in a good run. Overall, he should be a good option for Barca this season.
While on paper, his age doesn’t make it look like he could succeed at first team level, I believe in Pau Victor as a good option for the future at Barcelona. Hopefully we can see some of him in the USA tour, and as a Lewandowski backup this season for the Blaugrana. For now though, I’m Jim James, until next time.