Dest and Riqui Puig, Xavi’s ‘red lanterns’

At the opposite pole of Ter Stegen and Sergio Busquets, the players most used by Xavi, with more than a thousand minutes each, are Sergiño Dest and Riqui Puig, by far the first team players who have had the least presence on the pitch, without counting the long-term injured, who are still without making their debut, like Braithwaite, or those who have just come out of a long recovery, like Fati and Pedri.

The situation of the American winger is especially worrying: he has only played 139 minutes, being Bayern’s day at the Allianz (3-0) his last appearance, where he also did not come out in the second half. His environment grabs like a straw to the excuses of injuries to argue his disappearance from the team, but the truth is that there are other reasons that leave Dest in a very complicated position.

The coaches believe that the international is having a hard time assimilating the concepts of positional play and that his style of play is poorly suited to Xavi’s needs. In fact, In the Super Cup match against Real Madrid, he was one of the big players, along with Umtiti, when he watched the game from the stands.

The best solution would be an outing this winter. He has a market and the club could take advantage of the former Ajax player. But nevertheless, neither the player nor his agent are for the job, although, according to several sources, there could be a radical change in the next few days.

Riqui Puig is not as alarming a case as Dest’s, but it does make it relatively clear that the one from Matadepera is today the last resort in midfield. In addition, Pedri’s recovery complicates his appearances even more, which were already being very punctual and sporadic, since the explosion of Gavi and Nico.

Riqui Puig has played 232 minutes with Xavi. Of the twelve games that the coach has played, only in one has he completed all the minutes (Mallorca). It must be remembered that in this match Xavi had a total of 16 casualties, including those sanctioned, Covid-positive and injured, including Sergio Busquets, Gavi and Pedri.

What is surprising about the youth squad is that coaches continue to pass through the FC Barcelona bench and their name never appears in the line-ups, a more than evident symptom that either takes a step forward or it will be more difficult every day to continue wearing the Blaugrana shirt.

One thing that speaks for itself about Xavi’s lack of confidence in Dest and Riqui Puig is that a player as veteran as Dani Alves, who made his debut on January 2 and has only played three games for Barcelona, ​​already has more minutes (258) than them.