Planes, the former Barcelona sporting director who orchestrated Pedri's arrival at Camp Nou, has lifted the lid on a signing that bypassed every data model the club had at its disposal.
Speaking to Juanma Castaño on COPE, Planes — now executive director at Saudi club Al-Ittihad — described a decision-making process driven almost entirely by urgency and human judgement.
"We broke all the theories of big data," Planes said. "His impact exceeded any digital prediction model we had."
Barcelona had been tracking Pedri since he was still a youth player at Las Palmas. The club's awareness of him sharpened during a preseason trip to Marbella, where they watched him in two matches including a tribute game between Real Betis and Las Palmas in honour of former forward Rubén Castro.
What they saw convinced them that time was the critical factor.
"Other major clubs in Spain also had information on Pedri," Planes said. "We thought that if he started playing in the second division, we would arrive too late. We had to make the decision before the player made his official competitive debut."
The entire operation was completed in a week — an unusually compressed timeline for a player who would go on to become one of the best midfielders in the world.
Now representing Spain at the World Cup in North America, Pedri has already won two LaLiga titles and two Copa del Rey trophies with Barcelona since signing a new five-year contract extension in January 2025, which included a reported €1 billion release clause.
Planes also addressed the debate around Pedri's position, which has been a recurring topic under multiple managers and with the Spain national team.
"He should play managing the ball and creating, but close to the area," he said. "The number eight position."
The midfielder has now made over 227 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 23 goals.