Not defensive at all .Remember that Rakitic is AM forced to play CM because we have no one else. He can easily play on LAM instead of Iniesta, he played there in Sevilla.
Rakitic was a defensive midfielder, a central midfielder and an offensive midfielder and played the best as a Cm and Amc long before Barcelona.
Gundogan, he plays more defensively, it seems.
So, in Iniesta+Rakitic duo, he is more like Rakitic.
If you want to play Gundogan at Rakitic's place and turn Rakitic into Iniesta (because he played Amc in Sevilla and Croatia), I still think that he is not such a good creator for Barca's level.
The same is with Pogba, he is not a creator.
We thought our midfield is set with Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Thiago.
Well, that was a premature thinking.
Cesc never actually played for Barca, and when he started to play, he didn't fit our system.
So, he was never a proven player at Barca, or at Barca's level, or in Barca's system.
Thiago didn't play too many matches and while he was in Barca, he didn't look as good (for our system) as people today say (revisionism again, as always).
So, with those 4 players, we had 2 proven players and 2 players in the range "who knows how will they fit into our team (in the future)."
Having some insurance and healthy competition doesn't hurt, those who lose could either accept bench or they can be sold for good money.
This is not only about you, but about a lot of users.
It is funny, because in attack, we have 3 positions, and we have 3 players for those 3 positions (Messi, Ney, Suarez).
We are not "allowed" to buy a healthy competition, because these 3 guys will cry like babies if they will get substituted.
So, even though we have 3 positions, a 4th guy (Pedro) was a surplus, and he wanted to leave, because he barely played.
So, 3 players for 3 positions in attack is EQUAL to=2 players for 2 positions in midfield.
Iniesta and Rakitic alone are already the same thing as MSN.
Now, we already have a 3rd guy, Turan.
So, that means that we have 3 world class players for 2 midfield positions (Rakitic, Iniesta, Turan).
While we have 3 players for 3 positions in attack (Msn).
Not only that, we also have Rafinha, who plays a lot. It is questionable whether he will be good enough ever to be a starter here, but he is a good squad player already.
Also, we still have Roberto, as the 5th option as a Cm.
So, in midfield, we have 3, or 4 players (with Rafinha), or 5 players (with Rafinha and Roberto), and people are asking for some "depth" and competition.
While with holy cows, Messi/Ney/Suarez, we are not allowed to buy anyone. A healthy competition and depth is NOT a good option, when we talk about Msn, isn't it?
That is somewhat hilarious, you have to agree...
We could "buy" the argument how Iniesta is almost finished, so we will have only Rakitic and Turan soon, so we will need at least one world class player, like Gundogan.
Ok, but then, Rafinha needs to be sold, we can't play with 4 central midfielders. Roberto is gone also, as a Cm. Denis Suarez needs to be sold. Halilovic needs to be sold.
Plus, if you buy Gundogan/Pogba, it will be waaaay to crowded until Iniesta retires.
And he will play at least till summer 2017', imo.
