Barca misses Sergio Busquets a lot. Bussi’s shadow is very long, and it seems that it is taking its toll on Oriol Romeu. The resource of moving Christensen to the center half or pivot position seems to have paid off, although he has really only played 6 games, of which only one is complete. So the following questions arise: what does Big Data say about Christensen’s performance as a defensive midfielder? Does it hold up in comparison with the two best midfielders of recent years, Rodri and Sergio Busquets? What other center midfielders can you compare him with, to see if Barca really needs a center midfielder or can play with Christensen? In building play from the defensive zone, Christensen played a more important role, especially when his back-row partner was Araujo, and he was a catalyst of play from behind. By moving up to the pivot position, he has considerably reduced the number of passes received, and therefore completed (the catalyst role is clearly in the figures of Gundogan, Frankie de Jong or Pedri when they have been able to play). However, Christensen offers Barcelona what it needs: -Security in passing. Although the number of passes he makes every 90 minutes has almost halved, as a result of the fact that his role is not the catalyst of the game (66 to 39), his success percentage is very high: 91% -Force: Christensen has He became one of the players in the league who commits the most fouls every 90 minutes. He averages 2.42 fouls per game, compared to the 1.02 fouls per 90 minutes that he averaged when he played center back. In Barcelona’s 90-minute statistics, he is only behind Gabi, with one difference. Christensen has not received any card, neither yellow nor red, in his career as Barcelona’s pivot! As a curiosity, the statistics of fouls committed every 90 minutes are led by 2 Getafe players: Arambarri (4.77 fouls per 90 minutes) and Latasa (3.84 fouls per 90 minutes). We are going to compare their data as a center half with the data of those who for general opinion have probably been the two best pivots of recent years: Rodri from Manchester City this year, and with the data of Sergio Busquets, between the 2018 and 2023 seasons. We do not go back further because our data source , which is FBRef, does not have complete advanced statistics for previous seasons. So we are probably not taking into account Busquets’ best years, between 2010 and 2016, a period in which he won 3 Champions Leagues, 2 European Championships and 1 World Cup. Of these Busquets seasons, Big Data tells us that the best season was 2021/2022, in which he played practically all of the games and obtained the highest rating of the 6 seasons considered. Christensen’s profile is more that of the lifelong defensive pivot, a “stopper”, and we have set the bar very high for him when comparing him with Busquets (of whom Román Riquelme said that he confused everyone with his game, because He is a 5 who plays like a 10) and with the Rodri of the 2024 season. But in the defensive aspects, which is what a good stopper must take care of in addition to giving continuity to the game with his passes, he more than complies. In blocks, clearances and aerial duels won, he surpasses Rodri and Busquet from season 21. However, his aggressiveness is striking compared to the other two: he is in the 95th percentile of fouls committed per game (compared to the 64th percentiles of Rodri, and 77 from Busquets), when, however, he recovers many fewer balls and wins fewer duels. Let’s ask Big Data which players have a similar profile to Christensen Pivote, and how his performance is. The Big Data suggests 9 players who play as defensive pivots/midfielders, and whose percentage of similarity with Christensen’s characteristics playing as a pivot ranges between 92% and 94.85%. Being realistic, I think Barca can directly rule out Kamara. He has a contract until June 2027, his market value is 38M euros and he will hardly be able to compete financially with a Premier team like Aston Villa. I think we can also rule out one of the big surprises of the Premier this year: the Japanese Wataru Endo. Today, due to his age and financial muscle, it does not seem possible to attract him to Barca. In my opinion, if Barcelona wants to reinforce the pivot position, paying attention to Big Data, they can consider two alternatives: Bet on proven players, with a lower price because they are already in the maturity of their career, although they have not had much experience in large teams. Bologna’s two centre-halfs, Aebischer and Remo Freuler, are Swiss internationals with extensive international experience. Although here one might ask: Would the Remo Freuler/Michel Aebischer experiment work out?
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