It’s tough to watch any player succumb to major injury in football, but when one as young and as prodigiously talented as Gavi falls, it stings that little bit more.
The 2022 Golden Boy winner, not yet turned 20, has been a fixture in Barcelona and Spain’s first-teams for just over 2 years. In that time he’s made clear what incredible talent and potential he has - but sadly, it’ll be some time before we see it in action again.
Barcelona have confirmed Gavi has suffered an ACL tear and some damage to his meniscus too, sustained in an international match against Georgia. This comes just one week after Pedri returned from his fifth hamstring issue, having missed around two months of football as the club took every precaution to ensure he’s physically ready for football once again.
They’re probably thanking their lucky stars they did take such caution with Pedri, as he’ll be needed more than ever now Gavi is out for the rest of the season. That said, Pedri and Gavi are not particularly similar - they share a nationality and a diminutive stature, but not much else.
Because Gavi is not your typical playmaking Spanish central midfielder - not by a long shot.
When you think of Spanish midfielders you think of elegant passers and luxurious controllers: Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Silva and more. When you think of Gavi, what comes to mind? It should probably be his tenacious tackling and proclivity for fouls. That’s not a criticism - in fact, what Gavi offers from an off-the-ball perspective is vital to top clubs in 2023, and his skillset will be incredibly difficult to replace.
The sheer intensity and snappiness Gavi provides is a vital ingredient to a team trying to control not only by passing you to death, but through tempo in midfield. He’s no slouch on the ball or from a creative standpoint - not even close - but the statistics paint a fairly clear picture of where he is most impactful.
💪 No player has won more ground duels than Gavi (64) in La Liga this season pic.twitter.com/ekqlofxS7J
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) November 2, 2023
This season in LaLiga, among players to have started 10 or more games, Gavi is joint-6th for tackles per 90 with 3.7, then 7th for fouls per 90 with 3.0. It’s quite rare that players from elite clubs feature in the top order of these types of statistics, simply because top clubs have so much more of the ball, they have fewer chances to rack up defensive actions.
But Gavi has always been this way, ever since bursting onto the scene. Even when playing for Luis Enrique’s Spain team - one of the most possession-hungry sides this sport has ever seen - he was able to rack up fouls like no tomorrow, complimenting his neat on-the-ball play that ensured he was still a good fit for the team.
He plays with an intensity, a fire, and to some extent a resiliency that Barcelona lack outside of him. At times he can overstep the mark, but even top teams need to channel some level of aggression and Gavi’s the key man for La Blaugrana in that sense. He riles up opponents, he crushes counter-attacks with fouls, he sets a tone that opponents struggle to deal with.
In all likelihood, they’ll now be without that until next season. Barcelona can still control games via their traditional “death by a thousand passes” method, utilising a ludicrously talented Pedri-Ilkay Gundogan-Frenkie de Jong trio, but they’ve lost an element of physicality (little as he is) and an element of relentlessness.
With nothing in house to turn to and very little wiggle room in the transfer market due to financial constraints, Xavi will have to do something special to compensate for this loss.
