I would rather have (younger) Arda-someone (not Iniesta/Rafinha)-Busi.
Arda is still a midfielder, a guy who was creating things for years.
Even though he is a shadow of himself lately.
Roberto, while he is capable for doing a random solo run (he has done a few lately from a RB position or in 343), he is still a guy whom teammates stopped passing the ball in the last few Months when he was a RB.
People will reply: but he was a RB.
Ok, but imagine if we placed Xavi as a RB in 433 (in theory). When he would get the ball, he wouldn't run past 3 players and cross, but he would do something useful even as a RB in terms of triangles, link up etc with other teammates. And I doubt that teammates would stop passing the ball to a RB Xavi.
Or if we would put Messi at a RB. Do you think that teammates would see him free at wing and think: I won't pass the ball to him, he won't do anything useful with it?
Ok, it is not fair to compare players with Xavi and Messi, even when we put them at a RB, but I hope that you get the point.
I like Roberto, he is awesome, as a squad player.
And compared with our other players, I would rather play him as a Cm than Gomes, Denis, Samper and even current, old Arda from my post.
BUT, I would still rather play Iniesta, Rafinha and Rakitic as Cms, before Roberto, because they have more allround skills for that position.
I have a feeling that people are currently slightly blinded (by emotions) by a good display, or more precisely, by a good solo run in the 93rd minute yesterday.
Roberto is still a guy who was an absolute disaster in his first seasons here, where people made jokes about him.
Later he improved and turned into a playable Cdm/Cm sub.
In 2015/16 he was very good when we suffered a lot of injuries.
Now, you can reply that it is because Lucho is "stupid", but Roberto lost his Cm position as soon as Arda was allowed to play and when Rafinha returned from a longterm injury.
So, when everyone were fit, a pecking order was:
1. Iniesta
2. Rakitic
3. Arda
4. Rafinha
5. Roberto
Then we signed Gomes and Denis and Gomes jumped to a No3.
It is hard to tell what would happen if Roberto was a Cm, but in Lucho's plans, at least Iniesta, Rakitic, Gomes, Rafinha and probably Arda were infront of him.
I am not sure about Denis.
So, it isn't as if Lucho picked our 2nd best Cm and turned him into a RB, but he picked a guy who was his 5th choice and who wouldn't play too much either way (probably).
Then Roberto was a RB, who started good, but has lost it pretty fast.
I know, I know, he is not a RB, but still, his link up and sideway passes were quite horrible for Months and he offered absolutely zero in attack.
This is where my claim comes from that teammates lately started to neglect him totally in attack.
Also, now in hindsight, it is easy to change the past and think that he played awesome in the past as a CM.
I have browsed his topic from 2015 now, and for example, in this post you can see that he actually didn't play too much as a CM either in 2015/16 autumn/winter:
November 2015: "He's played 4 games as a CM and 1 as FWR and his whoscored ratings are much higher in those positions than as RB where he has played 5 times."
So, he played only a few matches as a CM even then, and then played as a RB.
When Arda was available later, Arda played all the time.
And this season, he was used as a RB.
So, in the end, Roberto played as a CM probably 10-15 in his whole Barca's career (right?). And since he is already 25, I am not sure how do you expect that a 25 years old guy who played only a few matches in his whole career as a true CM will suddenly compete for a place of Barca's starter?
If you want to refresh (and other posters also) your memories from not too distant summer/autumn of 2015 (when he started as a CM), here you go:
http://www.barcaforum.com/showthread.php/2610-20-Sergi-Roberto/page122
And read 3-4 pages from back then.
There were 100s of posts like:
"This guy... Midfield Mascherano - Rafinha - Roberto is probably the worst Barça midfield in 10 years."
Since then, Roberto played 5-10 matches as a midfielder, and played all the time as a RB, or was not playing at all.
He surely improved, even with playing as a RB.
But still, he was a guy whom people called on forum as the worst Barca's midfielder ever and someone who should never again in his life play as a Cm (you'll see those posts also) and now 2 years later, when people are too emotional about his workrate and 2 magic moments (Psg 6:1 goal and Real 2:3 solo run), we are discussing him being a starter for Barca suddenly.
Again, I love Roberto, and want him here, but as a sub Cdm, Cm and a RB.
In moments like this when people are too emotional, posts like mine sounds like hating on our player (a current hero), but you see, a revisionism kicks in all the time, and past times are easily forgotten or altered.
