Barcelona: Why Thiago Is at a Career Roadblock Just Like Xavi Was a Decade Ago

Barcelona's Spanish international Thiago is an extraordinary gifted footballer, but he's at a career roadblock just like Xavi was a decade ago. 

Writing in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship technical report, Hedi Hamel mentioned Xavi as Inaki Sáez's lynchpin during La Furia Roja's triumphant run.

Xavi received the Don Balón breakthrough player that same year and his influence on Sáez's side when they were silver medalists at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was highlighted by the FIFA technical study group, who called the Barça footballer a "very stylish player."

Yet, Xavi contemplated about leaving the Blaugrana because he wasn't getting the minutes he wanted, he felt awkward displacing his hero Pep Guardiola and there were other viable destinations (via Graham Hunter at the Herald Scotland):

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Xavi is now the venerated, brilliant, visionary, all-time great Spanish midfielder but, between 1998 and 2002, he was an under-rated, misused and unfairly judged young player.

He remembers hearing Camp Nou's disapproval if he came on as a substitute for Guardiola, reading fans' letters to papers, hearing them on radio phone-ins, objecting to the young pretender trying to "oust" King Pep from territory that was rightfully his.

The club's managing director, Javier Pérez Farguell, had briefed at least one agent that Barça were "open minded" to the idea of selling Xavi.

The chance to join Manchester United came up.

He thought long and hard about it, but decided to dig in and fight for his chance at the club he has always supported.

"

It was only a few years ago when Thiago and Serbian Danijel Aleksić toyed with opposition defences at the Euro under-17s. 

You'd be forgiven for hailing Thiago as Spain's answer to Lionel Messi because that's how dominant he looked.

"

Golden Boy 2011 (for best U21 player): 1 Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund) - 2 Thiago - 3 Eden Hazard (Lille) #fcblive [tuttosport]

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) December 9, 2011"

This season, Thiago has only played 41 percent of Barça's total minutes in La Liga.

At 22 years of age, he still isn't a certainty to become a regular starter due to the club's loaded midfield. 

Sergio Busquets wins back possession 4.4 times per league game, completes 92.1 percent of his passes, and to quote Xavi (via Andreas Vou at Inside Spanish Football): "He’s the best midfielder there is playing one-touch."

Busquets is too important to the Blaugrana setup for him to be displaced. 

Andrés Iniesta will stay in midfield should Neymar, who will leave for Europe after the 2014 FIFA World Cup (per ESPN FC), don the Barça shirt.

Xavi, who replaced a living legend in Guardiola, could end up losing his starting position. 

You may think the 33-year-old's playing style is as effortless as the way Roger Federer hits a forehand winner, but the amount of mileage Xavi has clocked throughout his career is catching up to his body.

LEAGUE ONLY	PPM	P%	LP%
Cesc Fábregas	1.0	88.3	80.6
Thiago	1.3	92.4	92.1
Xavi	1.3	94.9	95.6

PPM = passes per minute, P% = passing percentage, LP% = long passing percentage

If Xavi succumbs to a long-term injury, then the conundrum for club management is: Fábregas or Thiago? 

Fábregas is more experienced and despite going through patches of the season missing in action, the former Arsenal captain has accumulated a double-double in La Liga (10 goals and assists). 

Though, Thiago is a more accurate passer and has a more expansive passing range, and therefore would be a logical replacement for Xavi. 

Having watched Thiago dismantle Real Zaragoza with a brace of assists and a goal, coupled with two assists vs. Getafe, plus back-to-back goals against Cordoba and Málaga—why limit him to just being a distributor? 

He has Xavi's metronomic passing combined with Iniesta's trickery. Imagine if Thiago was given the same freedom afforded to Mario Götze?  

When Xavi rejected a move to Manchester United a decade ago, he showed perseverance, and the same quality is being displayed by Thiago. 

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Statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, Fox Soccer and Squawka.com