 It is no secret that Busquéts is ageing. He is no longer the reliable player he used to be, although he is still a good player. As a CDM at FC Barcelona, you need to be flawless. You must never make mistakes, so when you’re not able to give that promise anymore, then it is time to find your replacement. This is what FC Barcelona have been trying to find for Busquéts for a few years now. |
His offensive attributes are not the best. He can do long passes, but they are not guaranteed to reach their target. He is able to break defensive lines, but he does not do it very often, and that is a problem if you rely on that midfielder to provide the creativity, which Biusquéts has done for several years at FC Barcelona. In the eyes of a person who does not know Zubimendi, they would probably think he is a defender, because this is definitely the area in which he has the most quality.
The newspapers - as we all know - love to make headlines, so obviously a lot of midfielders have been rumoured to overtake Busquéts’ role at Barca; Ruben Neves from Wolves, N’golo Kanté from Chelsea, but most mentioned is the Spanish midfielder from Real Sociedad, Martín Zubimendi.
FC Barcelona are rumoured to be heavily interested in making Zubimendi the bet as their present and future defensive midfielder. His buy-out clause is €60 million, which is a huge amount of money for a club like FC Barcelona, who - as known to many - do not have a big amount of money to spend. But would the Spaniard be worth it?
Zubimendi is a good player, who is just 23 years of age, so he has still got a lot of time to grow as a player - and thankfully so. It is safe to say that the greatest aspect of his abilities is to be found in his defensive attributes - his standing tackles, especially, are phenomenal, and he looks so effortless when he executes them to perfection. This is probably one of the main reasons that FC Barcelona are after him. His short passes are also extremely accurate and safe, but they are often a bit too safe. They mostly go to the sides or backward instead of going forward.
Zubimendi does have quite some experience already, despite his young age, but he has played just one match for the Spanish national team, so he has never been a regular at the absolute highest level, with all due respect to Real Sociedad, which maybe could also be a negative point about the potential signing of him.
He is a good player over all, but if people think that with Zubimendi they get a reincarnation of Sergio Busquéts, they are unfortunately wrong. Unlike Busquéts, who in his prime was such a great all-rounder, Zubimendi is not that creative-minded. He is a massive profile in the defensive aspect of the game, but he will most likely require moving midfielders on his sides - which could be players like Pedri and Gavi, for instance - to shine. We do have the player to make him shine, and Xavi could possibly make it all work, but people need to know the downsides of his signing, too, although Xavi, the mastermind, could possibly turn Zubimendi’s needs into positives.
If Xavi can fit him in well, he could be a great success, but if he cannot get him in properly, the fear may be that he will turn out to be another André Gomes.