“Without Pedri in this team, everything falls apart.”
As Barcelona struggled in attack last season, that was the often-shared message from their backroom staff.
But this week, Xavi said his side are going through “the best moment since I’ve been here as manager” — even though key man Pedri has been absent for the past month with a hamstring injury. Without him, nothing has fallen apart. Things are actually better than they’ve been for years.
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That is not intended as a dig towards Pedri, but it does highlight the improvements Barca have made in this season’s early stages.
They have just recorded two consecutive 5-0 victories, the club’s first back-to-back wins by a five-goal margin since March 2017, and two of the key figures in these recent flamboyant displays have been new arrivals: Joao Felix and Ilkay Gundogan.
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Former Manchester City captain Gundogan was signed this summer to complement Pedri’s influence in central areas of the final third, providing another talented midfielder to link up with Robert Lewandowski.
“When Gundo has the ball, everything gets better,” Xavi said on Tuesday, after the 5-0 home win over Belgium’s Royal Antwerp in the first Champions League group game. “He does everything well, absolutely everything. If we play well it is because of guys like him. His signing was Heaven-sent, honestly. He is a superlative player, a total joy to watch.”
It is quite significant that even on a day when Oriol Romeu was rested, Gundogan, probably the best-equipped option to take over his role in the team, was still used as an attacking midfielder. Xavi has been very clear — his team needs the 32-year-old German playing close to the opposition box, not his own.
Deadline-day loan signing Joao Felix has been arguably as impactful as Gundogan, with three goals and an assist in his first two starts. Xavi’s biggest objective during pre-season was to enhance the team’s creativity in attack and things seem to be falling into place already.
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But beyond the boosted goal tally or the hype around new faces, there’s another player who has greatly benefited: Gavi.
Barca’s summer transfer activity left the 19-year-old with no guarantees of a starting spot. Indeed, Gavi was seen as the player who would make room for Gundogan. Pedri’s role was beyond doubt, and Xavi wanted to use a defensive pivot, with the pairing of Romeu and Frenkie de Jong taking up the remaining midfield places.
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Last year, Gavi was most often used as an attacking midfielder or as a ‘false’ winger on the left — Xavi needed him close to the box, linking up with Lewandowski. But despite all the virtues Gavi possesses, he did not exactly shine in the role.
Sources from the Barca coaching staff, who preferred to speak anonymously as they did not have permission to comment, said he still had to improve, highlighting his body shape when accepting the ball, turning in tight spaces and learning how to attack the penalty area.
All that is Pedri’s natural game, but Gavi, they said, needed to perfect things.
In these past two fixtures though, Gavi has taken up something of a different position. With Gundogan in the Pedri role, and Joao Felix out on the left, Gavi has excelled in a more central area. And right now, that is where he really is a difference-maker for Barcelona.
Against Real Betis on Saturday, he operated as a right-sided attacking midfielder, but it was a deeper role than we are used to seeing. He completed 38 passes in his own half, his highest figure since his first-team debut in 2021. He also registered seven recoveries in that game, the most by any player on the pitch.
Three days later, he played a similar role when Antwerp came to town. He was involved heavily again in Barca’s build-up and ball circulation, but this time as the left-sided attacking midfielder.
Against Betis, Gavi completed 55 of his 57 pass attempts (96.5 per cent), then in Tuesday’s Champions League win, he completed 73 of 74 attempts (98.6 per cent). Last season, according to FBref.com, Gavi averaged 44.35 attempted passes per 90 minutes, with an 86.3 per cent success rate.
The stats from his two most recent appearances obviously represent a very small sample of data, but it does help explain why Xavi has been praising Gavi so highly.
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“Right now, it is really difficult to take Gavi off the pitch,” Xavi said after the Betis game. “He gives the team a soul, intensity, the proper rhythm, recoveries… he plays with a contagious passion.
“He is the heart of Barcelona, and I already said in pre-season when the ‘entorno’ (the stage for constant noise and commentary on the club) had doubts over his game time: he is a fundamental person and footballer for this squad.”
Gavi is also turning into a genuine goal threat — on Tuesday night, he scored his second goal of the campaign, one short of his tally for all of last season.
“Wherever he plays, he does it well, but he can still produce many more things,” Xavi also said on Tuesday. “He can get into the box in good positions, but Gavi is a really versatile player that will help us anywhere.
“There are still aspects to polish. He is so dynamic that sometimes he does not keep his position as he should or how the team needs to. We are working on it and he’s already improved significantly.”
A few months ago, Gundogan’s arrival felt like a threat to Gavi’s place in the team, but now it looks like a gift.
But as positive as all this is, on the other side of the coin is the challenge Xavi will have in picking a starting line-up once Pedri recovers from his injury. The 20-year-old is expected to come back around the time of the first Clasico of the season, which is currently scheduled for October 28.
If Joao Felix keeps up his impressive form, Xavi will have no other option but to grant him the left side of the attack. That will leave only three spots in midfield for Pedri, Gundogan, De Jong, Gavi and Romeu. The manager has described this as “a blessed problem, one that I’m happy to have.”
It has been a long time since Barcelona found themselves in a situation like this — too long. In recent years, a lack of strength in depth has left their team without the competitiveness it needs to grow and get better.
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Competitiveness is certainly one of Gavi’s main strengths — one of the many reasons he seems to embody everything Xavi wants his Barca side to be.
(Top photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
