That's not to say Rafinha has not been disappointing but to give up on him after a few games & some injuries, to discard his performances last season because "midtable club" and because he doesn't perform like a new Xavi is senseless. And for the record, I really don't recall Xavi being a "God" in the years around 2000. The only Barça player I recall who was absolutely PRODIGIOUS from the start is Messi.
Xavi wasn't a God, ok.
But people are just talking about his years 1999-2007 like he was something like Keita or Pedro.
Look against whom 20 year old Xavi had to compete:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999–2000_FC_Barcelona_season
-- I have even seen some replies in other topics that "it was easier back then for a young player", lol
-- people will give any excuse to defend the current youngsters and to continue the hype about them
-- and about our real legends, "everything" was easier and different back then
-- anyway, 20 year old Xavi had to win a midfield place against:
-- against 29 years old Pep Guardiola, Barca's legend, and he was still on his prime
-- against 30 years old Luis Enrique (lol). Awesome Barca and Real Madrid midfielder
-- 30 year old extremely versatile Cocu
-- 30 year old extremely experienced Ronald De Boer
-- we could also add versatile players like Luis Figo, Zenden and Litmanen here
-- Cocu played 53+55 matches in 2000 and 2001
-- Ronny De Boer played 37 matches in 2000, and was sold
-- Guardiola played 25 and 36 matches in 2000 and 2001
-- Luis Enrique played 33 and 41 matches in 2000 and 2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavi
-- young Xavi played 38 and 36 matches in 99/00 and 00/01, when he was aged 19, 20 and 21
= 74 matches
-- so, out of all our experienced and expensive midfielders, only Cocu played more matches
-- Xavi played more matches than Guardiola and Ronald De Boer, and the same number (74) as Lucho, our captain
-- today, current Xavi and Iniesta are something like Guardiola and Luis Enrique from those days
-- Rakitic is something like Ronny De Boer
-- can you imagine Rafinha or even Samper playing 40-ish matches per Season?
I know, people will have 1000s of excuses again:
-- it was easier in those days for a youngster
-- but if you look at our team from 2000, there weren't any youngsters in our team
-- slightly older (22-23 years old) Puyol played 37+24 matches and that's it
-- other La Masia products didn't play too much
-- only a winger Simao Sabrosa played, but he was bought as a future world-superstar. In those days, press, media and fans believed that he is the new Luis Figo, and that it is worth to play him, no matter how poorly he performed
-- but after 2-3 Seasons, people realized that he won't be a new Luis Figo (lol at the stupid hype again)
-- also, people will say that we were weak in those days, lol, even though the current team is equally as poor/bad as 2000s team (We were champions in 97-98 and 98-99 with the same players, and we had Van Gaal as a coach) and we have very decent chances to repeat 3-4-5 Seasons without major trophies with the current board, coach and a set of players
-- also, one interesting thing is that our coaches were:
-- Van Gaal 97-2000
-- Serra Ferrer 00-01
-- Rexach 01-02
-- Van Gaal 02-03
-- Antic 03
-- Rijkaard 03-08
-- Guardiola 08-12 etc
= and the thing is THAT EVERY SINGLE ONE of them played Xavi in the staring 11
For example, people are saying today: this coach is stupid, he doesn't play Deulofeu, Barta or XX player.
-- but on the other hand, no matter how good or bad our coaches were, EVERY SINGLE ONE of them played Xavi. Always.
-- so, some coaches hate Deulo or Bartra
-- but on the other hand, ALL of our coaches "loved" Xavi
-- a strange coincidence, or he was just a much bigger talent/better player from the day 1 than Deulo or Bartra?
People are saying that young Xavi was nothing special (even though he played more matches aged 21 than 30 yrs old Guardiola and Luis Enrique), and on the other hand people believe in Rafinha who touches the ball 25 times at home against Celta, or in Deulo's awesome skills when he scores one La Liga goal in 4 Months in Sevilla.
Everything what current youngsters do is good and hyped till death.
And true legends, like Xavi:
-- were nothing special till Pep (lol)
-- he was poor at Dmc
-- it was easier back then, our team was a crap
-- it was easier for a young player in general, the philosophy was different (but why all other young players turned out to be a crap or average, like Gabri, Saviola, Simao, Rochemback etc?). Xavi and Puyol were the only players from that 5 years era who turned into a starting 11 material. If those days were that easy for youngsters, then we would have much more starters from that era, isn't it?
People are extremely biased towards our current youngsters and are believing a hype too much.
As others have already said, we were extremely lucky with Xavi, Iniesta, Busi and Messi from our La Masia.
Something like that will probably never repeat. And it surely won't repeat today with "gems" like Deulo, Halilovic, Rafinha, Bartra and similar.
It is not like these guys are a total crap. But it is very questionable whether they are of Barca's quality.
And still, even if some of them are of Barca's quality, it is still quite easy to say that none of them will ever be nowhere near Xavi's level.
Even though Xavi was "nothing special" before Pep, as some say
