2023-06-25 09:00:22
BarcelonaWhen in January 2019 Barça sealed the signing of Frenkie de Jong, the feeling at the club was one of maximum congratulation. The club had overtaken giants such as Manchester City and PSG to sign one of the brightest young players. After that season with Ajax, De Jong would be distinguished in the UEFA ideal eleven as the best midfielder of the Champions League. To get ahead of the Manchester team and the Parisian club, apart from counting on Frenkie’s desire to play for Barça – he had already been to the Camp Nou before as a fan – the then president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, accompanied by CEO, Òscar Grau, and of the sports dome, made a lightning trip to Amsterdam. A presentation was made to De Jong explaining that he would be Barça’s future centre-half, the natural replacement for Sergio Busquets.
But in four seasons as a Blaugrana, De Jong has played as a pivot on numerous occasions. Neither with Ernesto Valverde, nor with the brief parenthesis with Quique Setién, nor with Ronald Koeman was he established in this position. Nor since the arrival of Xavi Hernández, in November 2021. The main reason has always been the same: in 15 seasons in the Barça first team, no midfielder has been able to replace Busquets as a pivot. “De Jong can play as a central midfielder or inside, as he has the ability to break out in attack and break lines. Busquets is a more positional footballer, to get the ball out quickly, to one side and to the other. Maybe I’m talking too much, but I have the feeling that in the future De Jong will play more in midfield,” Valverde said in November 2019.
The evolution of Xavi’s Barça
After overhauling the squad last summer, the club is now dependent on selling players
gala evening
last season
Possible eleven of the
season 2023-24
the first eleven
as a coach
*Xavi does not see De Jong as a starting pivot and the club will try to sign a replacement for Busquets
The first eleven as a coach
The gala eleven last season
Possible eleven for the 2023-24 season
*Xavi does not see De Jong as a starting pivot and the club will try to sign a replacement for Busquets
The first eleven as a coach
The gala eleven last season
Possible eleven for the 2023-24 season
*Xavi does not see De Jong as a starting pivot and the club will try to sign a replacement for Busquets
The forecast of the coach from Extremadura has not been fulfilled, and now that Barça will start the first season without the midfielder from Badia del Vallès, Xavi’s main puzzle is to know who will play in midfield. The excellence and reliability that Busquets has shown throughout this time explain the difficulty of replacing him. “He doesn’t get injured and has a very regular performance, he almost never drops below 7, and that for a coach is vital: he’s a player who won’t surprise you. He’s so good because he has a very balanced offensive-defensive balance. It’s difficult find a pivot who can give you so much in this position: he is always alert to rival losses, organizes the pressure, supports his teammates and makes the team run,” says Franc Artiga, coach who worked for more of a decade at La Masia.
“Busquets has maximum intelligence and plays in a crucial position for a team with a game idea like ours. I don’t know if it’s Barça’s most complicated position, but I’m convinced it’s the most decisive,” adds Joan Vilà, who was linked to Barça for forty years. “He doesn’t need to be the fastest, he doesn’t need to run a lot, but he needs to run well. And when Barça play together and orderly, that’s when Busquets shines the most, both in defense and in attack,” adds one of Xavi’s football parents. That is why the main challenge, the most important request that the coach has made to the sports management, is to sign a replacement guarantee for the former Barça captain.
Xavi values De Jong’s qualities – this season he has started in 37 of the 46 games in which he has been available – but he wants him as an interior player, not as a central midfielder. That’s why Barça tried to sign Zubimendi, from Real Sociedad, and Kimmich, from Bayern Munich, but both have closed the door on the club. The other alternatives in the squad, such as Nico – who returns after being in Valencia – or Eric Garcia – tested as a pivot at the behest of Jordi Cruyff – do not convince the coach either. The club is also working with other options, such as Guido (Betis ), Parejo (Villa-real) or Brozovic (Inter Milan). “Busquets was Xavi’s extension on the pitch,” Domènec Torrent, who coached them both when he was part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff, tells this newspaper.
Xavi’s insistence on signing like Gündogan
After the revolution in the staff last summer at the stroke of a lever, the persistent deficit economic situation and the change in regulations in the League that president Javier Tebas approved in the middle of the season, force Barça to sell players this summer, both to make the registrations for the renewals of the talents of the house as for signing. The club is at an impasse that worries Xavi, who knows the delicate situation in terms of accounts but at the same time considers that he needs more talent. The coach sees it as very difficult to be able to compete in the Champions League and win again in the League if he does not manage to strengthen himself with a pivot and also increase the performances of the midfield going forward.
From the start, Xavi considers that when Pedri is not in the team, his leads melt in the creative aspect. This season’s success in the state competitions has been based more on Ter Stegen’s defensive solidity and accuracy than on a regularity of playing good football. This worries the coach a lot, who dreamed of a return of Leo Messi – fueled by the conversations that the player and the coach were having – which will not happen. That is why he has insisted so much on strengthening himself with Ilkay Gündogan, whom he called on several occasions before signing him. He will be 33 in October, but his quality is proven and endorsed after a season in which he has been central to City’s success.
Having more talent and, consequently, playing better is Xavi’s great obsession. The coach also has the challenge of making the players already in the squad better. With the frustrated return of Messi and the departure of Busquets, Barça begins an era without any figure on the pitch of that wonderful group of players who, under Pep Guardiola’s baton, practiced the best football in Europe. Being able to grow after winning the League is a balloon of oxygen. Play better, a necessity in front of a Real Madrid that is strengthening itself with a checkbook.
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