"Very complete player" - Carles Puyol claims Barcelona star is similar to Gerard Pique

Barcelona legend Carles Puyol has compared club defender Pau Cubarsi to Gerard Pique. The teenager broke into the first team last season and has been a revelation for the Catalans so far.

Last season, Cubarsi registered 24 appearances across competitions for the LaLiga giants. This season, the Spaniard has already appeared 23 times for Barcelona, all but one of which have been starts.

The 17-year-old has forged a rock-solid partnership with veteran Inigo Martinez at the heart of Hansi Flick's backline. Cubarsi's efforts have seen him compared to Puyol, with the teenager previously expressing a desire to emulate the club legend.

Speaking recently to El Pais, Puyol was full of praise for his countryman.

"Cubarsi is a very complete player, with a very good exit from the ball. In this sense, he is more like Gerard Pique than me. He is very smart defensively. He’s competitive and he’s always focused. It’s not easy to have that peace of mind at that age,” said Puyol.

Cubarsi's efforts have seen him linked with a lot of top clubs across the continent. However, the Spaniard is under contract with Barcelona until 2027 and the club are under no pressure to let him go.

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Will Barcelona reinforce their backline in 2025?

Pau Cubarsi

Barcelona could be tempted to invest in their backline in 2025. While the Catalans have a settled centerback pairing of Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez, the latter's contract expires at the end of this season.

The veteran defender's contract reportedly has an automatic renewal clause that will be activated if he registers a preset number of appearances for the club. With Martinez playing regularly under Flick, he is expected to stay for at least a season more.

However, the LaLiga giants are also sweating on the future of Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo. Both players have been sidelined with injuries of late and are yet to break into Flick's plans.

The duo remain linked with an exit from Barcelona at the moment and could be on the move in 2025. Interestingly, Araujo was wanted by Bayern Munich in January this year, while he has also been linked with Manchester United before.

Moreover, recent reports have suggested that the LaLiga giants have already reached an agreement to sign Bayer Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah on a Bosman move at the end of this season.