He could potentially become the best Spanish midfielder of al time.
IMO he'll be 2nd to Xavi but depends what he does with the rest of his career.
Well, Xavi is more consistent (injury-proness can also affect this).
Iniesta is also a different type of player, Xavi is the best Spanish CM/Deep-lying playmaker of all time. Iniesta is the best Spanish attacking midfielder ... two quite different roles.
Xavi pulls the strings, he controls the tempo of the game. Iniesta links up play, cuts through defenses with both dribbling and passing, but his insane dribbling is what makes him magical. That's why Xavi + Iniesta is the most deadly combination ever to have in a midfield; you have the passing, vision genius alongside with a dribbling, running, ball-controlling genius. You close down/double mark Xavi and Iniesta will destroy his marker; you pile pressure on Iniesta and he will gladly take them on only to pass it off back to Xavi (or any other Barca player). So now you have just left space open for Messi or something else...
I mean this is the reason why Barca midfield + trident is such a sick and frightening system for anyone to play against. You simply can't defend against this stuff when they are on their best form... even filthy Inter wasn't able to beat us leg 2 with all out defense. This is also why I feel our 4-3-3 (with this squad) is superior to a system with a designated playmaker. Yes we can switch to 4-3-1-2 or 4-2-3-1 with Messi as the playmaker/trequartista but it is a more predictable system.
Someone mentioned it before but I think the best bet is to implement a secondary 4-3-1-2 system in which Messi/Villa/Ibra can shift positions naturally as the situation demands it. But since we play a fluid system the "positions" aren't set in stone anyway, that's why I always seem any changes in "base formation" simply to be transient at most; we more or less utilize broad methods that have always worked with Xavi being a deep-lying playmaker, Iniesta linking up play with everyone and everything but mostly Xavi, and Messi just being Messi and taking on anything.
The attack can originate from any point in the midfield, to the wing backs, to the inside forwards, and the centre forward. It is... "undefendable." And fucking beautiful to watch. Now that we have David Villa? You will see, this season you will see some AMAZING STUFFS.
Iniesta is amazing and doesn't afraid of anything.
