His debut was far better than I expected. This guy showed real determination to impress, especially Valverde was in the crowd. Neymar to Barca is becoming nearly impossible this year and Barca starts to utilizing their young talents. Abe can find the motivation in Perez or Fati.
Why did they choose him even as a sub? This seems a good point. I thought he would be not even bench material for UCL.
They don't have enough first team players to fill the 25 slots on UCL list "A" anyway so they threw in a few reserve players. Puig, Pérez and Fati are eligible for list "B" so they don't count toward the quota.
Called up for a friendly during the international break: 📋 [SQUAD LIST]⚽ #CartagenaBarça⏰ 13/11/19 - 7.00pm CET pic.twitter.com/VSTJ6rA7m3— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 12, 2019
Hiroki Abe scored tonight his first competitive goal for Barcelona B in a Spanish third tier league match: バルサ安部裕葵、移籍後、初ゴール🏝🇯🇵⚽️😉👍 #安部裕葵 #hiroki #hirokiabe #fcb #barca #バルサ #barcelona #バルセロナ #soccer #サッカー #鹿島アントラーズ #kashimaantlers #japan #日本 #spain #スペイン #fcbarcelona #fcバルセロナ pic.twitter.com/GeDXwoAMk9— Tatsuya Nakane🎼🧑🎨🌴😃 (@Tatsuya_Nakane) November 17, 2019
... and he is among the 3 nominees for the AFC youth player of the year, alongside Lee Kang-in from South Korea and Doan Van Hau from Vietnam: Nominees for AFC Youth Player of the Year (Men)🇯🇵 Hiroki Abe🇰🇷 Lee Kang-in🇻🇳 Doan Van Hau#AFCAwards2019 pic.twitter.com/0HhdfVaTeY— AFC (@theafcdotcom) November 16, 2019
His first goal: ⚽ Así ha sido el primer gol de Hiroki🔝 ¡Qué manera de definir! #ForçaBarça 🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/ssp9B2KTap— Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) December 15, 2019
His second goal: 🔝¡Qué delícia el segundo gol de Hiroki! 😱👏 pic.twitter.com/wdpBW4aXWf— Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) December 15, 2019
Hopefully he can be loaned to a team in La Liga or at least Segunda Divison next season. He can be the next Inui.
Yeah realistically I'm hoping he somehow gets picked up by another La Liga side and goes from there. He'd need a 25-30 goal season in the B-team to get on the bench probably at Barca.
Lately he's been used mostly as a false 9 in Barça B's setup. Some were hoping he'd be in the squad for the UCL group finale against Inter but looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to see if Valverde is interested in calling him up to get a taste of the senior team.
It's noteworthy that he is ahead of U-21 Spain prospect Abel Ruiz in the pecking order for Barca B's striker position.