Pablo Martín Páez Gavira (born 5 August 2004), known as Gavi, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Barcelona and the Spain national team.
Early life Gavi was born in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Sevilla, Andalusia.
Club career Early career Gavi started his career at La Liara Balompié, a club in his hometown, where he spent two years, between 2010 and 2012. From there he moved on to Real Betis's youth academy, where he spent two seasons. He scored 95 goals for their youth team.
Barcelona Youth career In 2015, at the age of 11, he signed for Barcelona.
In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the Catalan club, and was promoted directly from the under-16 team to the under-19 team. He made his debut for Barcelona B on 21 February 2021, in the 6–0 home routing of L'Hospitalet, coming on as a substitute for Nico González in the 77th minute. He made his first start for Barça B the following 14 March in a 1–0 derby win against Espanyol B at the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque.
2021–22 season Having featured twice for Barcelona B in the 2020–21 season, Gavi was promoted to the senior squad for pre-season friendlies with the first team ahead of the start of the new season. After good performances in wins against Gimnàstic de Tarragona and Girona, Gavi was reported to have pushed ahead of Riqui Puig in manager Ronald Koeman's squad selection. He continued this good run of form in a 3–0 win against German opposition VfB Stuttgart, earning comparisons with Barcelona legend Xavi.
On 29 August 2021, he played his first official match for Barcelona's first team in the 2–1 La Liga win over Getafe, replacing Sergi Roberto in the 73rd minute. On 18 December, he scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–2 home win over Elche.
2022–23 season
On 15 January 2023, Gavi scored a goal and provided two assists to be named man of the match in a 3–1 victory over Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España Final. On 31 January, a Spanish court ruled in favor of accepting Gavi's new contract with Barcelona until 2026, signed in September the previous year, despite opposition from La Liga president Javier Tebas who argued that the new deal would not fit in the club's salary limit that season. On the same day, Barcelona announced that Gavi would acquire the number 6 shirt, previously worn by his coach and Barcelona legend, Xavi. On 21 March, a court ruling ordered that the new deal to be revoked as it would exceed the club's salary limit, and a return to his previous enrolment as a youth-team player with his old number 30 shirt.
On 20 June 2023, Barcelona managed to complete Gavi's registration to La Liga as a first-team player, subsequently extended his contract with Barcelona until June 2026, which contained a release clause of €1bn.
2023–present Having been injured since November 2023, Gavi came back to training on 12 September 2024. After 348 days since his injury, he made his return to action on 20 October 2024 in a 5–1 victory against Sevilla, replacing his teammate Pedri who handed him the captain's armband. Similarly, he also made an appearance in El Clásico as a substitute once again on 26 October 2024 where Barcelona won comfortably by 4–0 against Real Madrid in the Bernabéu. He picked up a yellow card in the 90th minute following a clash with Vinicius Jr. He scored his first goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao in the Supercopa de España semi final tie where he also assisted teammate Lamine Yamal in a 2–0 victory and eventually winning the cup. On 31 January 2025, he extended his contract with the club until 2030.
Gavi featured in the first two matches of Barcelona's opening La Liga matches of the 2025–26 season as a substitute, after which suffered a medial meniscus injury to his right knee and underwent surgery in early September 2025, ruling him out for an extended period of around four to five months. He was cleared to return to the squad in mid-March 2026.
International career
Gavi has represented Spain at under-15 and under-16 level.
On 30 September 2021, Gavi received a surprise call-up to the senior Spain national team by the manager Luis Enrique. He made his debut in their UEFA Nations League semi-final win against Italy on 6 October, becoming the youngest player to ever represent Spain at senior level. In the final against France on 10 October, Spain ultimately suffered a 2–1 defeat. On 5 June 2022, he scored his first senior goal in the Nations League away against the Czech Republic, becoming the youngest player to ever score representing Spain at senior level.
Gavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in which he started in all four matches. With his goal against Costa Rica in Spain's first game of the tournament, Gavi became the third youngest player (only behind Pelé and Manuel Rosas) to score in a World Cup match.
On 15 October 2023, Gavi scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win over Norway during the Euro 2024 qualifying, securing his national team's qualification to the major tournament. A month later, on 19 November, he sustained an ACL injury in his right knee and a damaged meniscus during a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Georgia, which would force him to miss both the Euro 2024 finals and the 2024 Olympic Games for Spain.
On 25 May 2026, Gavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He only made two appearances throughout the tournament, starting in Spain's opening match – a 0–0 draw against Cape Verde – and coming on as a late substitute in a 3–0 win over Austria in the round of 32; Spain went on to win the title with a 1–0 extra-time victory over defending champions Argentina in the final.
Style of play Graham Hunter of ESPN hailed Gavi as a highly promising young player in 2021, comparing him to former Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta due to his dribbling, anticipation, intelligence, vision, passing, first touch, close control, change of pace, and quick reflexes. Following his performance in Spain's semi-final victory over Italy in the 2021 Nations League Finals, Italian defender Emerson Palmieri described Gavi as a player who "has huge potential".
Coach Hansi Flick has deployed Gavi in multiple midfield roles during 2025–26, leveraging his defensive work rate, pressing intensity, and technical ability to adapt to various tactical setups.
Career statistics Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueCopa del ReyEuropeOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsBarcelona B2020–21Segunda División B20———202021–22Primera División RFEF10———10Total30———30Barcelona2021–22La Liga34210110104722022–23La Liga3625060214932023–24La Liga1210031001522024–25La Liga26141100214232025–26La Liga1100020001302026–27La Liga2000000020Total12161013215216810Career total12361013215217110
International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsSpain20214020221332023102202400202510202640Total325
Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gavi goal
+ List of international goals scored by Gavi No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition15 June 2022Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic81–12–22022–23 UEFA Nations League A217 November 2022Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan132–03–1Friendly323 November 2022Al Thumama Stadium, Doha, Qatar145–07–02022 FIFA World Cup412 September 2023Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain231–06–0UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying515 October 2023Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway251–01–0UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
Honours
Barcelona La Liga: 2022–23, 2024–25, 2025–26 Copa del Rey: 2024–25 Supercopa de España: 2023, 2025
Spain FIFA World Cup: 2026 UEFA Nations League: 2022–23; runner-up: 2024–25
Individual Kopa Trophy: 2022 Golden Boy: 2022 IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team: 2022, 2023 IFFHS Men's Youth (U20) UEFA Team: 2022, 2023 Trofeo Aldo Rovira: 2021–22
References
External links
Profile at the FC Barcelona website Profile at the Royal Spanish Football Federation website