Rakitic is the safest Midfield player we have and that's actually saying a lot considering we have Gomes.
Every now and then he would have a good long pass and maybe a through ball once in a blue moon but he's pretty much safe player and that's what annoys a lot of us because he's a passenger who's slower than a turtle and won't take many risks.
It actually reminds me of Roberto during the first part of 2014/15 when he got mins in the midfield. Every time he was subbed in or played in general he was mentally afraid of doing anything other than a sideways pass or a Backward pass and got a lot of shit by us for it.
Paulinho might not have great technicality but what stands out from him and Rakitic is mentality and Drive. Paulinho wants to go out there and prove that he can in fact play for Barcelona and work hard overall for the time.
Rakitic won the treble and double and that was it. He is also limited himself but at least in the second half of the treble season and part of the double season he at least looked like he gave a fuck but nowadays he doesn't seem to have that drive anymore.