Sergi Samper has been injured once again and his future as a Barcelona player looks bleaker by the day.
While much has been said about Samper and his ill fate when it comes to injuries and first team opportunities, a bigger question awaits Barcelona in the near future which is the future of Sergio Busquets.
The Catalan occupies a unique position in world football as one of the most intelligent defensive midfielders, also capable of making play. His short-passing and defensive positioning have made him critical to Barcelona’s style of play.
While Barcelona has a host of options in central midfield, they still lack a like-for-like replacement for the lanky midfielder.
Many had hoped that Samper would be his natural successor but even before his injuries, the youngster was deemed to be better utilised in central midfield as opposed to being a pivot. Another name on the list of potential replacements within the club is Oriol Busquets who has been one of the best prospects in the academy.
However, 19-year-old Oriol is far too young to replace Sergio Busquets adequately in the coming years.
Should Barcelona consider buying a potential replacement for Sergio now that Samper’s future looks in doubt? Probably.
Some of the best prospects in the pivot-role have already been snapped up, and the only viable option that currently seems available is the once highly-rated Julian Weigl.
The German is battling form and currently rides the bench for Borussia Dortmund, but his abilities have made him quite popular as an option for teams that play short-passes with a possession-based philosophy.
Even if Weigl is not the best option out there due to his form and other concerns, it will not hurt Barcelona to begin exploring options in the market.
Busquets is a generational player in his own way and it will be difficult to replace him directly but the club can try to find someone with a similar profile.
One injury to Busquets could derail Barcelona's campaign and that’s a risk the board shouldn’t be willing to take.
Nesaiknruy_Legend
176
I envy Barca cos unlike us, they actually use their youth products when the need arises. We're the second best academy and still don't use any youth. With that being said, Busquets Jr as I call him is a good shout, a lot of people have already mentioned him and he is a great option. Otherwise bring in someone like Allan from Napoli to sort of serve as a shield to the defence while contributing to offence...
ManishParab
152
Sergio Busquets is a generational talent. The most underrated footballer. The only player who has such an excellent defensive positional awareness, but helps a lot in attack by his pin point forward passes. It's very simple to see that Barca's passing tempo runs completely through him, and we also know the hard work Barca has to go through when he is not playing. According to me, he will be even more difficult to replace compared to Xavi and iniesta. A player to replace Busquets has to be someone very very smart. He needs to have that footballing brain functioning in both defense and attack. One player we probably missed out is Rodri, who is signed by Athletico Madrid, who seems closest to me in DM position. Another player we might bank on is Frenkie De Jong (Ajax), everyone knows his versatility, but still, according to me, he is more of number 8, and would give us more if ployed as a CM. So after excluding Rodri and DeJong, my only obvious choice remains is Oriol Busquets, and he seems to be perfect replacement to Busquets. Only 19, still has to improve a lot, but if he learns from Busquets in training day in day out, he can be the next Busquets for us for years. He obviously is from the same mould as Sergio, just needs little more polishing until he is promoted to First Team. Till then, I think Rakitic and Roberto can handle that position in absence of Busquets. Forca Barca 💜
LovePSG
105
Oriol Busquets is regarded as Sergio Busquets' successor. He was also called up in the CDR before he picked up an injury. It mainly has to be because of his surname being 'Busquets' and plays similar like Sergio, and same position.
whykallar
82
Barcelona don't need to spoil money to buy Busquets replacement, you need someone with that Barca tradition styles of playing to replace him, therefore, i advice you find replacement from the academy or use Oriol and forget about is age. Mbappe is 19 and playing compare to great players, anyone that say Eriol is young to replaced Busquets is wrong.