Here I disagree. He is NOT a playmaker. It's one of the reasons Argentina is failing so hard recently. They treat him like a playmaker but he isn't. His passing is great but passing alone doesn't make a playmaker (it's just one aspect of playmaking). He's far too direct to be one. Whenever he gets the ball, he goes directly towards goal, trying to dribble past 2, 3, 4 and quiet often it results in an assist. He's always looking to pick an attacking option with his passes. But that's not playmaking. Compare that to a genuine playmaker like Xavi or Riquelme for Argentina or any other playmaker for that matter. They don't look to score or make an assist in the first place like Leo. They dictate the tempo of the game, know when to slow it down or up it, shift sides, play sideway passes 90 % of the time if they have to etc. Everything Leo is NOT about. Leo's style is too "rushed" because that's what he has to do for Barcelona (provide directness). I don't know if he can grow into a playmaker. Probably, that's how talented he is, but I suspect it will happen quiet late in his career once he loses a bit of his pace and get moved deeper on the pitch.