Barcelona’s latest midfield maestro is a future captain who has Hansi Flick flustered
Barcelona are not messing around this pre-season. They’ve played three friendlies so far—one against AC Milan, one against Manchester City, and one against Real Madrid.
To be totally honest, we miss the days of Real Madrid v Plymouth Argyle, Shrewsbury Town v Galatasaray, Leeds United playing against themselves in Italy. Pre-season should be shambolic and strange. A pre-season El Clasico is an affront to God.
Regardless, these heretical games went ahead, and just one Barcelona player was on the pitch for every minute of every game. That man was 20-year-old Marc Casado.
If you’ve never heard of the young Spaniard, you’d be forgiven. He featured in just two La Liga matches last season, alongside a couple of European cameos. There has, however, been a change in management at Barca, and Hansi Flick seems to have taken a shine to Casado.
We’ve taken a closer look at the new kid on La Rambla and, good lord, we can see what Herr Flick sees in him. The internet has Casado pinned as predominantly a defensive midfielder who can fill in at centre-half and right-back. He’s so much more than that, though.
He’s tenacious, he’s mobile, he’s quick, he’s strong, but he’s also technically sublime, a beautiful passer of the ball, exceptionally calm and composed, intelligent, and creative.
Social media has a habit of labelling any midfielder who’s ever performed a slide tackle as a ‘defensive midfielder’. Make no mistake—Casado’s slide tackling is sublime, and something we really miss in the modern game. His skills stretch far beyond tackling, though.
Of course, a YouTube highlights video will have the most average of footballers looking like Napoli-era Maradona, but it’s clear to see Casado can do the lot. Have a look for yourself.
You know who he reminds us of, actually? A sort of slightly taller Marco Verratti. He’s not going to be the new Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, or Andres Iniesta, but perhaps that’s not what Barca need right now.
Pep Guardiola’s sides rely on a Busquets-type figure to knit everything together in the midfield. There’s a reason Rodri is being touted as a Ballon d’Or candidate by many in the game right now. Pep Guardiola ain’t in charge of Barcelona anymore, though, and that might be a good thing for Casado.
Casado is captain of Barcelona B, and he’s been training with the first team for some time. Xavi trusted him to make his senior debut against Atletico Madrid in La Liga, and if Xavi reckons you’re good enough to play in midfield for Barcelona, you are doing something very, very right.
It feels like something magic might just be brewing at the club once again, actually.
Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, Ansu Fati, Pau Cubarsi, Fermin, Alejandro Balde… Young Spanish talent is beginning to dominate Barca’s squad and, historically, that is something that bodes very well for the Blaugrana.
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Casado has competition to chase down if he’s to grab a place in the first team for the upcoming season—Ilkay Gundogan is still elite, Frenkie de Jong is part of the leadership group at the club, and the aforementioned Pedri and Gavi aren’t going to give up their spots without a fight.
We think Casado has the minerals – and crucially the talent – to at least force his way into the reckoning, though. The shining Flick has taken to him in pre-season certainly suggests so, with him playing more minutes than anyone else in the squad this summer.
One major injury and suddenly the 20-year-old could find himself either gaining a lot of experience coming off the bench, or even thrust into the first XI, and we think football fans the world over are going to be discussing this fella fervently within in the next eight or nine months.
Catalonia has a new hero waiting for his moment and, when that moment comes, remember you heard about him here first.
By Andrew Martin
