Barcelona’s 18-year-old centre-back prospect trains with senior team for the first time

It has become a regular occurrence for Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez to regularly call up fresh faces from the club’s academy ranks to first-team training in the ongoing campaign.

Over the course of the season, the likes of Pau Prim, Mika Faye, Mamadou Mbacke, and Unai Hernandez, among several others have all trained under Xavi while continuing to play for the youth and reserve teams.

A new face in first-team training

On Wednesday, Xavi handed a first call-up to another young prospect in the form of Alexis Olmedo to the Barcelona senior training session, reports SPORT.

Indeed, the 18-year-old defensive prospect was called up to train with the first-team squad for the first time ever by the Barcelona manager.

Olmedo participated in today’s session along with other youngsters like the aforementioned Prim, Mbacke, and Marc Casado.

Who is Alexis Olmedo?

Born in 2006, Olmedo has been at the Barcelona youth academy since a young age, having joined from Gimnastic Manresa.

GOAL! Alexis Olmedo scores! Pau Prim assist 1-0 pic.twitter.com/W9iyK9MLUq

The 18-year-old is part of the Barcelona Juvenil A setup, but has been working with the Barça Atletic squad under Rafa Marquez.

In fact, the teenage centre-back has featured in the last two matches for the reserve team after having spent close to four months on the sidelines due to an injury.

A centre-back by trade, Olmedo can also play at right-back as he did for Juvenil A in the UEFA Youth League this season, even scoring a goal.

Olmedo stands out for his anticipation in defensive actions, and his good ball control. In addition, he is a powerful player in the air and can be a threat from set-pieces.