With all the problems surfacing in midfield, I am quite surprised that this players thread has not been more active. Surely Koke is a more realistic transfer target than Verratti and he is possibly an even better fit for Barca.
There are so many reasons as to why Koke should be considered ahead of Verratti:
1. He has proven himself to be a consistent high level performer for the past 2-3 years now in a very competitive league. Verratti on the other hand plays in a dead league so whether or not he has been consistent is debatable. Even Mats would be a consistent performer for PSG.
2. The Koke-Busquets combination has proven to show some good results at NT level. Many users here saying that Busi has been performing better for Spain than for Barca and that could be down to the support he gets from Koke. Lately Busi has been isolated in midfield which is contributing to some poor displays.
3. It’s highly probable that Koke will need less time to adapt to the Barca system than Verratti given that he knows the league and the players from the NT.
4. It seems as if the man from Atletico is mentally stronger than Verratti. The Italian is clearly happy to earn easy money at PSG and his fixation on contract renewals at PSG shows a lack of real ambition to achieve anything meaningful in the sport. Koke however is willing to fight for his wages in a tough league. Verratti probably belongs in China rather than Barca.
5. Koke will be cheaper than Verratti and considering the above, he may even be of better quality.
I could go on but you should get the point by now. It’s really difficult to do business with PSG since they can turn down big offers. Atletico on the other hand can’t really afford to turn down big money. If Barca put in a reasonably good offer for Koke in the summer, there’s a good chance that he may actually come.
He could be the answer to the Barca midfield conundrum.