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#3 Barcelona's midfield trio
The options that Barcelona has in the midfield are diverse. There are all sorts of players and each one brings something unique. Carles Alena who was promoted from Barca B is a dangerous player in attacking areas and is a very capable #10. Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal are great box-to-box players. Sergio Busquets is the indispensable defensive holding midfielder. Arthur Melo is a central holding midfielder and Frenkie is a bit of everything. Coutinho is another player who might be moved into the midfield and Moussa Wague's promotion essentially puts Sergi Roberto in the midfield too.
Whoa. That is 8 good players in the midfield with only 3 spots vacant in the 4-3-3 formation at Barcelona. Out of these players, Busquets, Rakitic, and Frenkie, all three can act as a defensive pivot. All of them have good distribution. Arthur is a xerox copy of Xavi, a player with good press resistance, dribbling, and passing ability. Frenkie could also play as an interior in the midfield.
If we try and judge from the preseason, it is sure that Ernesto Valverde will trust Frenkie de Jong to play any position, making him an undisputed starter. If de Jong is going to play interior, then Busquets naturally takes the CDM spot. The remaining spot goes to either of Arthur, Alena, or Rakitic, and the Croatian is more like to bag the spot on the back of experience and trust from the coach.
This was just a random guess but all options are open to experiments from Barcelona. The depth in midfield is just too good for the Catalans so watch out for the mid-three against Bilbao.
