Player Focus: Rakitic Tasked With Evolving Barca Where Fabregas Failed

In summer 2011 Barcelona's big midfield summer signing was supposed to add more direct passing and make the team's build-up play less predictable. Three years later the Cesc Fabregas 'experiment' has been widely deemed a failure, but Ivan Rakitic is now arriving to do more or less the very same job.

When Pep Guardiola brought Fabregas back to the Camp Nou after eight years at Arsenal, the initial results were excellent. The then 24-year-old scored 14 goals and made five assists in his first 23 appearances. However, in his next 20 games Cesc scored only once, as Barca again struggled to break down deep-set defences when the season’s crunch time approached.

After a 3-2 loss at Osasuna in February 2012, Guardiola admitted that Cesc's more 'random' movement and thinking was hurting teammates Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta more than opponents.

“We have a problem,” Guardiola said. “In the past the random factor did not figure into our play. We must return to that level and not let randomness feature in our games. We have to control it by playing better.”

Neither Guardiola nor successors Tito Vilanova or Gerardo Martino ever really managed to solve that ‘randomness’ problem. Although he sometimes impressed when standing in for Lionel Messi as a false-nine, Fabregas never looked comfortable as a midfield organiser, and his form also faded after bright starts in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 campaigns.

Incoming coach Luis Enrique has decided against even trying to find a place for Fabregas. Blaugrana directors, pundits and fans were also generally happy to accept Chelsea's €33 million offer. Meanwhile summer 2011's other big signing Alexis Sanchez, who Guardiola also hoped would help 'evolve' Barca's style, has been ushered out too.

Meanwhile there has been widespread approval for the signing of Rakitic from Sevilla at €20 million. The 26-year-old was WhoScored.com’s fourth highest ranked player in Spain [at 7.6] and named man of the match on six occasions last term. He scored 12 goals and registered 10 assists in 34 La Liga games [5 as sub]. He also secured an excellent 8.29 rating when orchestrating March’s 2-1 home league win over Real Madrid.

Fabregas' overall rating was lower [7.31], with just one MotM, but he still managed an impressive 8 goals and 13 assists in his 36 games [8 as sub]. Even while being regularly whistled by large sections of his own team's fans, Cesc created 27 clear-cut chances, more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues, and well clear of Rakitic’s total figure of 11. Fabregas completed 0.7 through-balls per game, ahead of Rakitc's modest 0.2.

Even allowing for Barca's greater share of possession than Sevilla's, the stats suggest Cesc was not significantly outperformed by Rakitic over the course of the last season. Furthermore there was a big difference in their respective pass success numbers [long a priority at the Camp Nou]. Fabregas’ 87% was just ninth of all Barca’s players, but was still well ahead of Rakitic’s relatively profligate 79.7%.

By contrast Xavi managed a 93% pass accuracy last year, Busquets had 92.5% and Iniesta 91.7%. They were the top three players in La Liga - even as 'outsider' coach Martino tried to get the team to play the ball forward quicker. Rakitic actually ranked just 95th for pass completion in the division, coming sandwiched between Elche’s rugged Colombian midfielder Carlos ‘The Rock’ Sanchez and Valencia’s erratic reserve right-back Antonio Barragan.

Such a position is not what you’d perhaps expect of Barca’s new midfield general. But incoming boss Luis Enrique might not actually be too concerned. “We will attack and entertain fans all over the world,” the new coach said at his presentation last May. “Barca has an attractive idea of football, but we also have to be effective.”

If the plan really is to play more ‘vertically’ [as Spanish pundits say], and get the ball forward early to the new attacking 'trident' of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, then total pass completion might no longer be quite so important. Rakitic played 5 long balls per game last season, compared with just 3.7 from Fabregas. The Croatian also made 2.3 key passes per game, compared to the Catalan's 1.6.

Most important in all of this may well be timing - specifically concerning the role of Xavi. Those used to the long-serving playmaker controlling the pace of games with his metronomic passing could be forced into a rethink. That includes Xavi himself, with well-placed local reporters claiming the now 34-year-old has been told by his new boss that he will have limited playing time this coming season.

If Rakitic does take Xavi's place as Barca's primary 'organiser', Camp Nou regulars might need to forego some pass completion percentage points for some more direct play and goalmouth action. Fans and pundits who moaned when a risky Fabregas through ball did not come off might be encouraged now to applaud the bravery and ambition of the intended pass.

The signing of Rakitic looks not so much an admission that 2011's summer midfield bet was a failure, more another attempt to get right the evolution towards a more vertical style, which Guardiola, Vilanova and Martino all struggled to make work.

Can Rakitic lead Barcelona back to the summit of La Liga? Let us know in the comments below