Barcelona recently announced the signing of United States youth international Pedro Soma from Catalan team Cornellà. This move showcases the growing trend of American talent making their way through Barcelona’s youth system, known as La Masia.
Pedro Soma, an 18-year-old midfielder born in Boca Raton, Florida, to a Brazilian mother and American father, relocated to Barcelona in 2018. He started playing grassroots football in Barcelona and eventually caught the eye of third division side Cornellà in 2020, where he went on to represent the first team.
Soma’s performances in Spain have not gone unnoticed back in the United States. He has earned caps at U16, U17, and U18 levels for the U.S. national team. Notably, he captained the U.S. U17 team during the World Cup in Indonesia, where they reached the last 16 before being eliminated by eventual champions Germany.
Barcelona has been monitoring Soma’s progress closely, and they recently finalized a deal with Cornellà for his transfer to the LaLiga giants. Soma will initially join Barcelona’s U19 team, but there is a possibility for him to feature for the B team, Barça Atlètic, in the third tier of Spanish football.
Soma joins a growing contingent of American youngsters at Barcelona, with goalkeeper Diego Kochen and midfielder Adrian Simon Gill already part of the setup. Kochen, 18, has been a regular on the first team’s bench and has made his senior debut in a non-competitive match. Gill, also 18, is recovering from a long-term injury that sidelined him for most of the previous season.
The signing of Pedro Soma represents Barcelona’s commitment to nurturing young talent from around the world, including the United States. With a pipeline of promising American players like Soma, Kochen, and Gill, Barcelona continues to strengthen its ties with the growing soccer talent in the U.S. This trend bodes well for the future of both Barcelona and American soccer on the international stage.
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