World Cup Comment: Spain's Sergio Busquets - Have People Been Proved Wrong?
He’s potentially only 90 minutes away from being a world champion yet Sergio Busquets is a player who continues to greatly divide opinion. Make no mistake, the young Barcelona anchoring midfielder has been no bit part player for Spain in South Africa – he has played all but 27 minutes of the competition for la Furia Roja.
A great deal of criticism has been aimed at Busquets when playing his club football for Barcelona; he’s only in the team because the Catalans brought him through their cantera, critics assert. Despite this, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has seen fit to hand the 21-year-old a crucial role in his side, and the veteran coach’s faith was rewarded as the youngster excelled against Germany in the semi-final earlier in the week.
Yet still doubts remain.
Twenty-one years old, there’s not too many players who can say they’ve established themselves as a regular for their country, let alone accrued 18 caps and stood on the brink of lifting the World Cup by that age. Busquets must be doing something right.
Admittedly the youngster has been aided by the decline of Marcos Senna, the superb midfield general for la Roja during their successful Euro 2008 stint. And of course there was no automatic replacement for the Villarreal battler at national level, handing Busquets the ideal opportunity to stake a long-term claim for the role.
His competition for the tackling midfield berth isn’t especially hot. Javi Martinez is rarely critiqued in the same terms as Busquets but has the misfortune to be less experienced at the very top level than his direct opponent for a jersey in the national shirt. In this regard, the Barcelona man is definitely favoured, yet at the same time turning out on a regular basis for la Blaugrana seems to have shouldered the Catalan midfielder with some rather unfair baggage.
Already Busquets is being compared in relative terms to the likes of Lionel Messi and Xavi on a weekly basis at club level. Against players who may well rank amongst the all time greats when their respective careers have finished the still raw 21-year-old stands little chance.
It gets no easier when Del Bosque gives him the nod. Xavi still remains in the side, and though there is no Messi to dazzle, there are a whole array of other stars who have formed the basis of a team that has enjoyed world record winning and undefeated streaks.
Just as Eric Cantona disparagingly referred to Didier Deschamps as ‘le Porteur d'Eau’ – ‘the Water Carrier’ – because of his unfashionable role, the critics have their knives out to perform a similar role on Busquets.
While not wanting to suggest that the Spaniard is in the same class as the now Olympique de Marseille boss, it’s worth taking a step back and looking at his career in some kind of context.
Of course Busquets isn’t going to stand out amongst the diamonds he plays beside – he neither plays in a spectacular position nor is he that good quite frankly – but he is a functional player and is quietly efficient.
The Castrol Rankings would back such a claim up. During the World Cup he has climbed to a very respectable 17th in the standings. Despite such a lofty status, he is pushed into the shadows by five team-mates who incidentally occupy five of the top six spots, underlining the fact that he is turning out beside some truly exceptional talents.
Of players who have featured in more than three World Cup games this summer, only four have a better pass completion rate than Busquets. Though he’s only gaining possession and playing a simple short pass to a team-mate, that’s quite simply his role in the team and that should not be overlooked. And Spain are hardly suffering for having him as part of their defensive unit – they’ve lost only two goals in the whole competition to date.
Against the Netherlands on Sunday, don’t expect Busquets to be a match-winner, don’t even necessarily expect him to have a huge influence on the game, but do expect a typically workmanlike showing.
It’s hard to see Busquets ever truly shaking his naysayers. His situation is reminiscent of that of Darren Fletcher at Manchester United, who was heavily criticised when he first broke into the team at Old Trafford but is now considered one of the Premier League’s best midfielders by his peers. Nevertheless, Fletcher still receives the odd bullet. It comes with the territory, but even Spain and Barcelona need water carriers, and Busquets is the less technically gifted player shouldered with the donkey work.
