Barcelona find themselves in a period of upheaval. Luis Enrique’s tenure will shudder to a halt in the summer, regardless of whether the side is able to rouse itself to win La Liga or, even more unlikely, the Champions League.
The Catalans’ problems, though, stem back to the breakdown of their great midfield, and, more precisely, Xavi departing the club in the summer of 2015. Replacing such an iconic figure, who played over 500 times for the club, was always liable to be a laborious task, but it is one at which Barca have undoubtedly failed, with Andre Gomes having proved a lavish flop since arriving in the summer from Valencia.
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On Wednesday, though, Xavi’s heir will take to the field at Camp Nou – only he will not be turning out in the Blaugrana.
Marco Verratti has all the attributes to fill the void left by the World Cup winner’s departure. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder boasts the same calmness on the ball, the same willingness to dictate play from deep and has a steelier defensive edge to his game, even if it means a greater accumulation of yellow cards.
Of course, Verratti is not Xavi: he is an exceptionally accomplished player, but he is not yet the match of one of the most outstanding technical figures of all time. Nevertheless, he is the closest approximation to the Spain midfielder at his peak as there is in the modern-day game.
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It is a sentiment that even Xavi shares.
“I love Verratti. I like his vision of the game. He never loses the ball. He would fit well in the Barca game,” he told Canal Football Club in 2015. “I'd like to see him at Barcelona.”
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His influence on his side’s play is indisputable. Only team-mate and former Barcelona man, Thiago Motta, has touched the ball more per minute in Ligue 1 than the Italian, whose statistics are, nevertheless, quite incredible. With most players barely mustering one touch per minute, Verratti is up at 1.33, just a fraction behind his international colleague.
Even if Verratti does have the capability to build from the back, he is by nature a more attacking player than Motta, who is the archetypal defensive midfielder. As such, it is all the more remarkable that he enjoyed so much possession, and particularly that he boasts a passing accuracy of around 88% in Ligue 1, not to mention four assists and 27 chances created. By comparison, Motta is yet to register an assist but has fashion 17 chances.
The admiration of the 24-year-old extends to just about everyone he has played with. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for one, raved about his qualities when he was still at PSG, and in the summer it was even rumoured that the Swede pushed for Manchester United to sign him. Indeed, back in 2014, the Swede said that the young Verratti had no need for experience as he was already “world class”.
Three years on and a good deal more seasoned, Verratti continues to improve. The errors that he once made giving the ball away around his own penalty box have all but disappeared and there can be little doubt that the young man who dons the number 10 shirt for Italy is fully deserving of such stature.
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If there were any doubts over his ability to play for a side as big as Barcelona, these were surely cast aside at Parc des Princes two-and-a-half weeks ago, when the diminutive midfielder stood, metaphorically, of course, head and shoulders above all those around him.
It was a display of the highest order, and though Angel Di Maria earned many of the plaudits for his two goals, Andres Iniesta was suitably impressed with what he saw.
Speaking to France Bleu after the fixture, PSG’s Blaise Matuidi explained: “When Verratti was down on the ground with an injury, I told Iniesta that Marco was his successor and he replied that he thought the same.”
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Barca trail 4-0 from that first leg – surely an impossible margin to make up – but as they begin their rebuilding process following a difficult campaign, they would do well to consider Verratti as the keystone of their midfield going forward. Persuading PSG to part with an undoubtedly world-class talent, though, will be a fiendishly difficult task.
