One thing is clear. Xavi wants another season with Sergio Busquets.
For all the tiki taka icons who have departed the club over the past few seasons, Busquets is the last man standing, and the most difficult player to move away from.
Even when he’s criticized for not having the physicality to keep up in the modern game, Barca managers have taken the good with the bad, and backed the midfield maestro time and again.
The same can not be said for his veteran team-mates, who were by his side making history.
Jordi Alba and Sergio Roberto are back-ups. Gerard Pique was effectively forced out. Even Lionel Messi was dispensable.
Sergio Busquets remains, and his future is in his hands.
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Xavi and Joan Laporta are ready to offer a one-year extension, allegedly competing with Messi in a battle to convince Busquets to join him for a season in Saudi Arabia. Or maybe Miami. Jordi Alba is reportedly also in the mix to join them, although he’s made it clear he’d like to remain in Barcelona.
The decision is for Busquets to make. It’s nice that he has options.
One way or another, however, Busquets is not a player of the future for Barcelona.
He may be convinced by Xavi to stay for another year, but it’s very unlikely it would be for longer than that.
Barca is showing their hand. They are not ready to part with the Spanish legend. Xavi is not convinced he has an adequate replacement.
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Frankly, that’s a failure. They have had plenty of time to come up with a strategy. As much as we love and appreciate Busquets for everything he has given to the club, he should not be the person holding Barca over a barrel while they wait for an answer.
Busquets is waiting until Barca officially wins La Liga before announcing his decision.
For all we know, and that seems to include the manager and the president, it’s a coin toss.
If Busquets stays, it makes things easy on Xavi. A bit more continuity. Even with minimal investment over the summer, he can run back the same playbook and hope it’s enough to win another domestic title, and make a better run in Europe.
For me, however, this shows a lack of imagination and vision. Even if Busquets comes back, there has to be a plan to identify and try out a replacement.
Franck Kessie was thought to be that person this season. Before that it was Nico Gonzalez.
All along, there has been Frenkie de Jong, the most promising candidate of all.
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Could Eric Garcia be the dark horse?
One thing’s for sure, whoever takes over for Busquets won’t be able to do the things he does in the way that he does it. Xavi needs to understand he will never find another Busquets. He needs to envision what a Barca team will look like without him, with a defensive midfielder who has their own strengths that the team can play to.
As things currently stand, knowing that Barcelona doesn’t have a plan to replace Busquets, I do think it’s in the best interest of the team to have him on board for another season.
I wouldn’t be surprised, however, to see him choose to hang up the colors on his own terms. Winning one last La Liga championship is a fine send-off considering how difficult the last few seasons have been.
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And he deserves the glory that would come with raising the great trophy on his way out.
And then perhaps move on to enjoy a few seasons reuniting with his good friend Messi. Not to mention make a whole lot of money, which is a battlefield Barcelona can’t compete on.
Too bad Barcelona once again isn’t in control of the situation.
They’ll be reactive if he leaves, but for now are hoping for the easy short term solution of Busquets staying.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.