Pedro Rodriguez Continues to Prove His Worth to Barcelona

Pedro Rodriguez has had a good week at Barcelona.

A stunning—and perfect—midweek hat-trick against Huesca was followed up by another goal less than two minutes after kick off against Cordoba in Saturday's Primera Liga fixture.

The naysayers will point to neither team being the toughest of opposition, but that's missing the point somewhat.

Column inches devoted to how Pedro isn't the same player as the 2011 vintage are a little tiresome too. With the possible exception of Lionel Messi, not one of the Barca players is at the same level they were three years ago.

Trying to make an argument about it is pointless and moribund.

It's entirely relevant to concentrate on what he brings to the team at present. And utilised correctly and purposefully, there still remains a significant goal threat where Pedro Rodriguez is concerned.

The Canary Islander has suffered from a slight—and expected—dip in form, plus the arrival of Neymar last year and Luis Suarez in the summer.

Two acquisitions that, in many respects, weren't necessary and were more a statement from the board than players who would integrate seamlessly into the side.

There was little wrong with a front three of Lionel Messi, Pedro and Alexis Sanchez, insofar as the trio were adept at creating the style of attacking football with which Barca were synonymous.

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Upon Neymar's arrival, despite his obvious struggles to adapt, noted here by Ramzi Bensaid of Bloomberg Sports, his position in the starting line-up was assured, providing he remained injury free.

Therefore, one of Pedro or Alexis would have to be the fall guy. As it transpired, both warmed the subs' bench throughout the last campaign.

A lack of playing time for both was quite obviously going to affect confidence, form and, consequently, goalscoring ability, but that in no way suggests that either player wasn't up to it.

Indeed, selling Alexis to Arsenal is proving to be one of the worst decisions Barca's board has made in the recent past. But anyone with half a footballing brain could've seen that coming.

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And now we have a similar situation replicating itself with Pedro.

Unable to break into the starting XI on a regular basis because the marquee signings take precedence, Barca's standpoint is forcing Pedro toward the exit door. If The Telegraph is correct, then he will hook back up with Sanchez in north London.

Interestingly, Johan Cruyff, never one to hold fire on an opinion, has slammed the Catalans for their acquisition of Suarez. Writing in De Telegraaf via Stefan Coerts of Goal.com, Cruyff noted:

"

I am happy that Germany won the World Cup. They are playing the kind of football that Barcelona are distancing themselves from.

That feeling has only gotten stronger with the signing of Luis Suarez. He is a great player but is a complicated character.

I don't know how they plan to play free-flowing attacking football with Messi, Neymar and Suarez in one team. They are all players who rely on their individual actions.

Barcelona choose for individualism rather than for a team playing good football. The style of play they developed under Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola is being abandoned.

"

And there's the rub.

Shoehorning big-name players into a team rarely works. Substance over style is another no no.

Why did the club feel the need to go down the "Galactico" route when the players already in situ were perfectly capable of providing necessary excellence given the right platform and formation within which to excel?

Sid Lowe for The Guardian noted Pep Guardiola's words on Pedro from a couple of years ago:

"

It's time people talked seriously about Pedro. For us he is vital, fundamental. He always exceeds expectations and deserves everything that is happening to him.

If Pedro was Brazilian he'd be called Pedrinho...and we wouldn't have the money to sign him.

"

Pedro Rodriguez has not become a bad player overnight. Like Sanchez before him, he has been eased out of the picture to accommodate luxury purchases.

His goals and performances this week have been a very timely reminder to manager Luis Enrique, who noted after the Cordoba game, via Football Espana:

"

With me, any player can change their situation.

Pedro's performance was that of a top player. At the beginning of the season, he had difficulty finding the back of the net, but now it's very hard to stop him.

"

It's one of many reasons why the board must not allow Pedro to follow Sanchez out of the exit door.