Rakitic in 2015 was playing at a better level than current De Jong, but you can't estimate how well De Jong would do in a near-perfect team at the time. The difference between Barca during Rakitic's peak and current Barca is big.
If you'd have De Jong at Bayern or even Manchester City, IMO he'd be awesome.
To me, Frenkie is more eye pleasing player than Rakitic.
So was Arthur, but it doesn't tell much.
Frenkie has some flair and elegance while running.
He stands straight, he looks "easy" while running (not heavy, tired or overweight) and his first touch and his trademark dribble-press resistance is good.
So, when watching him, he creates that "wow" effect in spectators.
On the other hand, Rakitic is more heavy, slower, his hips are slower, he seems more tired, his running is nowhere near that elegant, his first touch is sometimes meh.
So, on the eye test, Frenkie is miles superior player.
But when you dig deeper, Frenkie really isn't contributing too much.
He is not doing anything in attack in terms of attacking movement and scoring.
He is not doing much in terms of creativity in the final third.
He is not doing much in possession since he doesn't seem like a classic TikiTaka guy.
He is not doing much in defense except endless running.
So, in terms of possession, neither Rakitic or Frenkie are typical Barca DNA players who fit our fast-passing style and movement.
In terms of attacking, Rakitic was way better.
In terms of creativity, Rakitic was better.
In terms of defending, for me Rakitic is way better.
Frenkie is running way more and covering more space in defense, but a lot of his defensive running is somewhat "headless chicken" running around with vacating his position, leaving tons of space behind his back, making soft tackles and being meh in the air.
On the other hand, Rakitic was running less, but he was holding his defensive position way better and was way better in reading the game, intercepting passes and just marking the opponents and forcing them to pass the ball to "someone else".
In only one match, over 90 minutes in a high stake match vs Argentina on a WC 2018, Rakitic managed to offer:
1. free kick hit the post
2. scored a goal
3. played 3-4 longball passes to his opponents
4. kept his position well and marked Messi and Argentinians well
5. tackled Messi from behind and prevented a clear goal and a simple tap-in
I would always be calmer in defense with a Rakitic as a pivot than with Frenkie's headless chicken running.
Someone will now reply: your boy Rakitic played awesome at Anfield.
Well, fine.
But when we switched Rakitic with Frenkie, we jumped from 4 goals conceded to 8 goals conceded (Bayern).
But some will say: Anfield was Rakitic's fualt while a poor guy Frenkie wasn't guilty for anything in 2:8 defeat.
Well, coincidence or not, but since Frenkie started to be a starter, we are losing all CL ties against big teams and we can't win any single La Liga match against any bigger opponent.
It might be that the team is horrible, OR Frenkie is one of the reasons why the team is chaotic possession and defensive wise.
Anyway, Frenkie won't play this many longballs over the whole season, because he just doesn't possess vision for anything in the attacking third (plus, his defending is really chaotic):
