Barcelona starlet wins hearts of Spain fans as invitation goes viral

Things have been moving quickly for Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez, who last year was playing in Spain’s third tier, and this summer is at Euro 2024 with Spain, as an established part of the Blaugrana first team. It has changed his life in his words.

Lopez, 21, spent the previous season on loan at Linares, and was thought to be headed out of the club last summer too. However, having impressed Xavi Hernandez in preseason training, he decided to take him on the preseason tour to the USA. Scoring and assisting in El Clasico, he has been with the first team since.

Despite limited opportunities early in the campaign, Fermin scored 11 times in less than 2,000 minutes, and earned a call up to Luis de la Fuente’s squad. A special invitation to his parents has also won the hearts of the Spanish support too.

“This last year has changed my life a lot. I have had hard times, but I have worked hard to get here. My parents have suffered a lot for me, so I told them that I would be very excited if they stopped working and came to Barcelona.”

“They deserve it. For them it was a delight, but also for me, as it is like a dream,” he told TV3, as quoted by Sport.

He is in Barcelona’s bad books though – although he says he has the support of the club, the Catalan daily do highlight a certain nervousness over the fact that Fermin is going to the Olympics after Euro 2024. Understandably, given the injuries suffered by Pedri, they are reluctant to see their players overused.

His situation looks different though, having played just 28 minutes at Euro 2024 so far. Pedri, during the year he cleared 70 games, was present for every minute at Euro 2020, and was a regular for Barcelona by the time he arrived at the Spain camp, while Lopez has been used more sparingly.