Marc Guiu Paz (; born 4 January 2006) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for club Chelsea.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

Granollers Granollers () is a city in central Catalonia, about 30 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. It is the capital and most densely populated city in the comarca of Vallès Oriental. Granollers is now a bustling business centre, having grown from a t ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Guiu began his career with Penya Barcelonista Sant Celoni, a fan club of

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

. He went on to join Barcelona themselves in the 2013–14 season, and progressed through the ''

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

'' academy, and was called up to the senior squad for the first time in June 2023, ahead of pre-season matches against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

and Japanese opposition Vissel Kobe. Guiu made his unofficial debut for Barcelona in the latter game, coming on as a half-time substitute for Robert Lewandowski. On 11 October 2023, he was again called up to the senior squad for a La Liga fixture against

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, though he did not eventually feature in the game. In the same month, he was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2006 worldwide. On 22 October, Guiu made his senior competitive debut as a 79th-minute substitute, scoring the winning goal in 23 seconds with his second touch of a 1–0 victory over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

. At 17 years and 291 days of age, he became the youngest and fastest debutant to score for Barcelona in

. Guiu made his Champions League debut three days later in a 2–1 win against Shakhtar Donetsk. He scored his first goal in the competition and second of the season on 13 December in a 3–2 defeat against Royal Antwerp.

Chelsea

On 1 July 2024, Guiu joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side Chelsea for a reported

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

6 million fee, signing a five-year contract with the club.

International career

Guiu has represented Spain at Under 17 and Under 19 level. In May 2023, he was called up by Spain U17 to compete in the

2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2023) is the 20th UEFA European Under-17 Championship (39th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football championship organised ...

, in which he became the competitions joint top scorer with four goals, alongside Paris Brunner, Robert Ramsak and teammate Lamine Yamal. In November 2023, he represented Spain U17 in the

2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the 19th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It will be held in Peru fro ...

, when he scored two goals.

Style of play

Barcelona youth coach Iván Carrasco describes Guiu as a "classic '9', a specialist in the area who exploits his physical power". He has been compared to Samuel Eto'o. He has a good high ball game, pace, strength and work-rate. Spanish football expert Guillem Balagué described Guiu as a striker who is known to be "more efficient in the box".

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Individual * UEFA European Under-17 Championship Top Scorer:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

*UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guiu, Marc 2006 births Living people Footballers from Granollers Spanish men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Primera Federación players FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Chelsea F.C. players La Liga players Premier League players 21st-century Catalan people Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England