Barcelona spent heavily during the summer to strengthen Hansi Flick’s squad, but three games into the new La Liga season, none of the headline signings has made quite the same impression as Xavi Espart.
Simply put, the academy graduate has emerged as the unexpected star of Barcelona’s opening weeks, starting all three league matches and playing every available minute.
That means 180 minutes of football without a break, despite the competition for places from senior players.
His latest performance against Rayo Vallecano only strengthened the feeling that Barcelona have discovered something special within their own academy.
Espart started on the left once again and delivered another energetic display in Barcelona’s 5-2 victory.
He created the opening goal for Raphinha and remained heavily involved throughout the match, showing the technical quality and versatility that have made him one of Flick’s most trusted players.
Sure, there was one blemish. Espart could have done more in the build-up to Sergio Camello’s second goal for Rayo.
But that moment did little to change the overall impression of another remarkably mature performance from a player operating in a position that is not even his natural one.
Xavi Espart is making the left-back position his ownThe numbers from the Rayo game show how influential Espart was.
He finished the match with 89 touches and completed 61 accurate passes, while contributing an assist, three successful dribbles and five duels won.
He also recorded eight recoveries, two clearances and a tackle, demonstrating that his contribution was not limited to Barcelona’s possession game.
These numbers are particularly impressive given the circumstances.
As such, Espart is naturally a midfielder and has also gained experience playing at right-back.
Hence, nobody could reasonably have expected him to become Barcelona’s first-choice option on the left side of the defence at the beginning of the campaign.
Furthermore, Barcelona brought Joao Cancelo back to reinforce the left-back position, while Alejandro Balde remains another established option.
On paper, Espart was supposed to be competing with two players far more experienced in that role.
However, he has seemingly moved ahead of both.
So far this season, Cancelo has only made three late substitute appearances, playing a mere 28 minutes, and none of those came as a replacement for Espart.
The academy graduate has played every possible minute under Flick, which tells its own story about how the manager’s opinion of him has changed.
Flick has already admitted Espart surprised himFlick’s comments after Barcelona’s La Liga opener against Athletic Club offered an early indication of just how impressed the manager was.
The German admitted that Espart had exceeded his expectations and even suggested that the player’s performances had made his position difficult to define.
“I’m very surprised by how he’s playing.
“He’s very good; it’s not easy for me now to decide on his position. He did a fantastic job today [against Athletic Club].
“He’s always focused and technically on a high level,” said the manager,”said the Barcelona manager.
At the time, Espart’s performance could have been viewed as an encouraging introduction to the season as Cancelo had just arrived.
Three matches later, however, it is becoming much harder to describe his rise as a temporary story.
Barcelona’s expensive summer overshadowed by La MasiaThere is an interesting contrast at the heart of Espart’s emergence.
Barcelona invested significantly to improve Flick’s squad, bringing in players who were expected to make an immediate difference.
Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi arrived to add quality and depth in attack, while Rodri represented a major addition to the midfield.
Xavi Espart has played every possible minute under Flick. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Sure, the three signings are performing at their optimal level, but the player who has generated the biggest surprise has cost Barcelona nothing in transfer terms.
Espart’s rise is also particularly valuable because of the positions he can cover.
His ability to operate in midfield, at right-back and now on the left technically makes him a new signing altogether.
Understandably, there is still a long way to go in the season, and three matches cannot establish a player’s long-term status.
Cancelo and Balde are not suddenly poor options simply because Espart has started brilliantly.
However, football managers rarely ignore a player who keeps performing and at this stage, Espart has given Flick very little reason to remove him.