The Terrible Error FC Barcelona Risk With Williams And Olmo Deals

GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - JUNE 20: Nico Williams and Dani Olmo of Spain cover their mouths as they ... [+] speak after the team's victory in the UEFA EURO 2024 group stage match between Spain and Italy at Arena AufSchalke on June 20, 2024 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. (Photo by Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

When Sergio Busquets emerged in the late 2000s there was an appreciation for his talent but perhaps not the understanding of his importance.

Defensive midfield has never been a glamorous position, filled with short passes, tackling and interceptions, it’s the type of work that rarely makes a highlights reel.

So, despite the fact, that Busquets was the heart of a Barcelona side that is ranked one of the greatest of all time, on the Parthenon of greats the lanky Catalan sits firmly behind teammates Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniestato name but a few.

Part of the reason he didn’t get his dues was that he broke through during an era when soccer was played very differently, defensive lines were often deep and long balls, even at the highest level, frequent.

Some teams did attempt to use short passes to move the ball forward, but it was only when Pep Guardiola put Busquets at the center of his modern version of the ‘total football’ style promoted by Johan Cryuff that a ‘possession-based’ approach began to gain traction.

Unlike direct soccer in which the strikers or wingers receive the ball quickly, the metronomic passing in this system began with the defensive midfielder or pivot, as it is commonly known within the game. Touching the ball more than any other player on the pitch they started the plays and created the space.

Traditionally this was not how the role of DM had been played. Particularly in countries like England, it was all about winning the ball and shielding the backline from attacks. But under the Cryuff/Guardiola system the inverse was true itwas all about what they did on the ball.

Compared to the blood and thunder of midfielders, like Edgar Davids or Gennaro Gattuso, who’d dominated the midfields of the era preceding Busquets his style was a real gear change. Moving languidly across the turf he seemed to glide through games barely leaving a grass stain on his uniform.

As Johan Cryuff himself said of the midfielder: "Positionally, he seems like a veteran with or without the ball.

“With the ball, he makes what is difficult look easy: he disposes of the ball with one or two touches.

“Without the ball, he gives us a lesson: that of being in the right place to intercept and running just to recover the ball."

What we didn’t realize then was that he was also changing the way soccer would be played full stop.

In no small part thanks to Pep Guardiola building dominant teams in Germany and England with a possession-based approach, the Barcelona total football of the 2000s has reached near ubiquity in the modern game.

As former Barcelona midfielder, Juan Roman Riquelme put it: ”When he appeared, Sergio Busquets changed the concept of football.

"He's unique in the world. There’s no other player like him."

These days the whole of Europe needs a Busquets to build the play from the back and, ironically, following the genuine article reaching the end of his time in Catalonia, so does FC Barcelona itself.

MADRID, SPAIN - APRIL 21: Sergio Busquets of FC Barcelona reacts during the Spanish Copa del Rey ... [+] match between Barcelona and Sevilla at Wanda Metropolitano on April 21, 2018 in Madrid, . (Photo by Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images)

Having a game that relied neither on speed nor power the physical limitations imposed by age didn’t impact Busquets'game as other players and it felt like, at times, he could go on forever.

Lulled into that false sense of security it appears were FC Barcelona who failed to develop a successor or source a replacement of sufficient quality much to the displeasure of manager of the first Busequet-less manager in over a decade Xavi.

He was instead forced to use Frenkie De Jong and Ilkay Gundogan or the underwhelming Oriol Romeu all of which were to varying degrees a failure.

The bizarre thing is that despite being caught with their pants down a year later Barcelona is just as unwilling to pull them back up.

This summer, with new coach Hansi Flick installed the club is prioritising signing winger Nico Williams and creative midfielder Danny Olmo, both of whom have reputations buoyed by their impressive Euro 2024 performances.

The outlay on those two signings, if indeed they take place, is likely to be north of $150 million which will presumably leave little to nothing for the Busquets vacancy.

He may not have the brilliance of the Barcelona legend or indeed be as good as the heir to that legacy, Rodri, but asMartín Zubimendi demonstrated in the Euro 2024 final, he is more than adequate at playing the role of DM in a possession side.

The Real Sociedad midfielder was also on Xavi’s wanted list and considered, with the departure of Busquets, by the ex-coach a priority.

However, the club continued to pursue exciting attackers rather than establish a new foundation for the team.

Although this short-sighted approach is not a recent phenomenon, what’s baffling is that the club has known Busquets could only last so long yet it has stood aside and watched rivals Real Madrid scoop up the best defensive midfield talent in the world, like Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga.

Manchester City meanwhile under Pep Guardiola developed Rodri, formerly of Atletico Madrid, into the true successor of the Barcelona legend with arguably even more attributes.

There is talk of FC Barcelona having to sell recent attacking acquisitions like Raphinha and Ferran Torres to fund the signings of Olmo and Williams which begs the question; why not reinvest the cash in a position where the club is trulyin need?

The two exciting players will, if they arrive, undoubtedly win games with their goals, but the club will not challenge for the titles it desires without addressing the fact it doesn’t have an elite, or even an adequate pivot.