Who would be the best/ideal player to replace Xavi at Barcelona?

Sergi Roberto? Fabregas? Banega? Gundogan?

Scholes

If not, I'd happily learn the way of Xavi whilst collecting a fat paycheck. Sign me up.

Hopefully Cesc will take his role this season

Tactics.

Thiago seems like a good fit. Too bad they sold him.

Fabregas could probably revert back to that role but he hasn't done it in a long time.

Kroos is a good option but I don't see him being sold unless he gets benched because of all the new signings, but I don't see that happenning.

Gundogan is a good option but would be pricey and Dortmund would be reluctant to sell with Gotze already gone and Lewandowski leaving next summer most likely.

Sahin would actually be a good option. So would Verratti although I see Verratti coming straight to Serie A when he leaves PSG.

Banega is good but not good enough in my opinion and Sergio Roberto hasn't done anything as of yet to put such high stakes on him.

Best options in my opinion are Sahin or converting Fabregas back. Converting Fabregas back wouldn't really take that long and as soon as he gets used to it again there wouldn't be any drop in quality. Sahin I believe already knows Spanish, would be one of the cheapest options, and is quality.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Tactics.

"Tactics?! Yee ee's a good player ee is, I tried to boi 'im wen I was at tot'ham" - 'Arry Redknapp.

To be honest , I see Verratti as a good replacement for Xavi but in terms of speaking realistically and speaking about players' transfer availability at this time, I consider it difficult to really think of anyone else who I think could replace this guy at this time.

As the Great Leader said, maybe their tactics do need a bit of tweaking.   I mean it is now very quite easy to see that this guy's legs are not as strong anymore . ( You'd expect it ) And if they don't want to tweak their tactics then maybe a bit more rotation could help.

Fabregas is the answer here. It's the reason he was bought, I have always and still do think he is a better player then Thiago as Thiago usually impresses in pre-season and under 21 tournaments but then when playing with the first teamers he leaves something to be desired.

Both of them give away the ball a little too much which is pretty surprising to be honest. I think when Fab is given Xavi's place and is a sure fire starter with a defined position you will see his game blossom even more and turn in to the player everyone wants him to be at Barca.

robert downey jr

as long as they dont look at it like that "who is replacing xavi" barca will be fine. there is never an heir to a player, but if they look at it from a position standpoint then there are lots of options.

who knows maybe they will play a double pivot like spain and have busquests and a completely different midfield-type player- someone more like xabi alonso.

Verratti is the closest player to Xavi in terms of playing style

barca should stop looking for a xavi clone and just make the adjustment in tactics like mole said, nothing last forever

chad4401 wrote:barca should stop looking for a xavi clone and just make the adjustment in tactics like mole said, nothing last forever

exactly which is what annoys me when people throw cesc under the bus. Trying to find a player to emulate xavi only shows lack of flexibility and failure to adapt the system to players

Martino knows that. His system doesn't use a Xavi, hence i don't think Barca would need a Xavi replacement under him.

RealGunner wrote:Martino knows that. His system doesn't use a Xavi, hence i don't think Barca would need a Xavi replacement under him.

That's all well and good but when Xavi retires how likely is it that Martino will still be there?

You know as well as i do what its like in Spain, Xavi will probably retire in 2-3 years and i wouldn't be surprised if Martino doesn't last that long.

Not that i think he will flop but Manager's in Spain rarely last longer than 3 years.

Martino doesn't play a 4-3-3?

Yohan Modric wrote:Martino doesn't play a 4-3-3?

Read the analysing tata thread in the Barca section. Good info there on him and how he plays

He could adjust his current system to suit the current Barca players. That way Xavi can fit into the system.

Marco Verratti

Thiago Alcantara