I know that you think Busquets is one of the bad amigos, but hes still only 31. He wont accept a rotational role. And rightfully so. We need to be realistic. Not that Thiago would have anything to do with Busquets as well, it would be Pjanic vs Frenkie vs Thiago. Nonsensical. Thiago should be left alone after the signing of Pjanic. Was either/or for me.
I am probably in the minority that I think Busquets is fine for at least another season though. Our DM looked always decent enough, even when Rakitic played there. Our CM spots have been the bigger issue.
Yeah, but the fact is, Busquets started to slow down A LOT more quickly than Suarez and even Pique who both really look like shit these days, but they're both 33 now...while Busquets at 31, but on the pitch he looks like he's 35 or 36, no joke. So no, he can't be a starter anymore. De Jong is top 5 midfielder in the world material, he's the future, and needs to be incorporated to his rightful CDM position as soon as possible. As for Busquets, If he's willing to accept a rotational role behind De Jong, it's fine, otherwise sell him. You can draw a lot of comparisons with Pedro that way, since they rose through the ranks together, and we all thought Pedro was here to stay for many years to come, and yet he was sold. I wouldn't actually mind selling Busquets to Pep for like 40-50M, and I would actually be very interested to see how that turns out, and it would make sense for City and Pep too, it's clear Pep needs a replacement for Fernandinho, and it seems Pep doesn't see Rodri as a like for like replacement, considering Fernandinho is still so important to their team and still plays nearly every match, even at 35 years old, but it's clear he's can't keep up like this for two or even one more year, while Busquets is where Fernandinho was when Pep bought him, at least in terms of age, from their point of view.