Why Xavi kept Hansi Flick’s midfield mainstay from taking Busquets’ role at Barcelona

Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado received his maiden call-up to the Spanish national team earlier this week and will work under Luis de la Fuente for the first time in the coming days. Needless to say, it could not be more deserved.

The youngster has been the revelation of the season so far for the Catalans, fitting in perfectly into the defensive midfielder role and starring not just with his tenacity off the ball but quality and passing range.

At a time when the competition for a starting place in midfield is enormous, Casado appears to be the only player who walks into the midfield with a distinct profile nobody can compete with.

A contrasting season

Xavi Hernandez rightfully gets the praise, as the manager has trusted La Masia and brought up so many gems who are now regulars for the first team.

Casado, however, did not quite enjoy the same luck with the previous manager. Xavi did indeed hand him his debut, but he made just two appearances and played 36 minutes for Barcelona in La Liga last season.

As revealed by La Vanguardia, Xavi did not give the 21-year-old phenom the role he expected only keeping his best interest in mind and he did not want to burden the youngster with the onus of replacing the legendary Sergio Busquets.

In training, however, he always kept an eye on Casado and gave him many instructions to refine his game including not to pass sideways and always look for progressive outlets.

The player was frustrated with his lack of minutes for all that he showed in training but he regularly met with his peers after first-team matches to pick up insights and stay in the loop.

Flick’s influence

Casado spoke to Xavi in the summer and the former coach told him not to leave and that he trusted him and saw great potential. As fate had it, however, the club legend himself was sacked soon after.

As revealed by the same outlet, the former subsidiary team manager Rafa Marquez recently spoke about Flick’s confidence in Casado from day one, saying,

“Flick came to some of the reserve team’s training sessions and spoke to me to get my opinion on the players.”

“Of course, I told him about Casado, who had offers at the time and was hesitant. Flick spoke to him and convinced him to stay, and I also insisted on him,” he revealed.