Credits to Jordi Cotrina for the image

Vicente del Bosque: "You watch the game, you don’t see Busquets. You watch Busquets, you see the whole game"

Sergio Ramos. " There are many players i like. But the one we need is Sergio busquets "

Caesar Luis Mennoti who coached Argentina and won 1978 world cup said " I saw an extinct player, he is a star , absolute talent "

Busquets has undoubtedly been a pillar of the great barcelona midfield. His ability to read the game off the ball and positional defending, with his intelligent press and spectacular vision and passing were the ingredients required for a Barcelona midfield.

Busquets leaving the club is going to create a huge vacuum in the midfield pivot and Xavi will have a tough time figuring out a like for like replacement or even switch systems. He has heavily relied on him for the current 2022/23 campaign and it will be interesting to see how the team will adapt.

There are very few midfielders of his breed in the world right now. Football on field strategy has evolved. Gone are the days where Barcelona could pindown the opposition with pinpoint rapid short passes and rapid intelligent press to recover the ball. This was where Busquets would work his magic. And this magic was exactly we fans fail to see. Ofcourse we were blinded by many magicians at Barcelona, in the form of Iniesta, Xavi, Messi.

But lets come back to reality, like i said, gone are those days. Busquets leaving should be used by Xavi and Alemany as an opportunity to evolve our midfield. Signing a pivot in the midfield could redefine Barca's 2024 campaign.

As of how things stand, Frenkie Dejong is available in pivot. He seems to fit this role and is used in a similar role for the national team. But De Jong is a kind of midfielder who like to drift with the ball and is better suited for advanced midfield role. Also Nico Gonzales return from loan could also be used as an opportunity.

There are a few options and if rumours are to be believed, it is said that barca are trying to snap up Sofyan Amrabat, who had a spectacular worldcup . AFC Fiorentina would have to negotiate considering he has only a year left in his contract. A deal to price him may require atleast 30 million euros, but what plays to Barca's advantage in the negotiations is the players incistence.

It should be noted that barca will try and sign Ilkay Gundogan for centre midfield.

There are a few intersting free agent option for Barca which include NGolo Kante, Adrien Rabiot and Youri Tielmanns.

Few other rumours even point out an exchange deal for Ruben Neves involving Ansu Fati. Although it's hard to see the club afford Xavi's prefered Target Martin Zubimendi.

All in all, this is a decision Barcelona cannot afford to fall flat on.