Although this season has been far from perfect, there have still been some developments that will remain memorable for the FC Barcelona faithful for years to come. One such aspect of this season has been the spectacular rise of players like Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi.
Their performances with the first team are changing a lot of things for the Catalan club. Yamal is already a starter for Xavi for all intents and purposes, while Cubarsi’s presence allows Xavi to have a very competent ball-playing center-back to complement his more experienced options.
In addition to Xavi and the first team, another individual who has benefitted from Cubarsi’s explosion is the other highly-rated Barcelona Atletic defender, Mika Faye.
With the spotlight now being on Cubarsi, Faye has been playing at a very good level and scored two goals in his last two games with the Barcelona Atletic.
Faye’s talents have been recognized both within and without the club. He received a €9 million offer from Lens recently, which was rejected by Barcelona as the Catalans believed in his potential to become even better in the future.
Now, as SPORT has reported, the Barcelona Atletic coach, Rafa Marquez, also praised him once again after the match against Cultural Leonesa, and highlighted his main strengths:
“He has unique qualities that make him different from many others. He has great potential: he’s fast, strong, good in the air, and has a good left foot. Left-footed center-backs are not usually found as much, so we need to continue working with him.”
Marquez also identified one of the aspects that Faye needs to keep working on to reach the first team like Cubarsi:
“I think he has the qualities, but perhaps he lacks a bit more concentration. He must not relax at certain moments of the game. But he has a great profile to keep working on, and hopefully, someday he can have the opportunity in the first team.”
Faye’s physical superiority makes it easy for him to keep his opponents in check at most times. However, he has the tendency to become overconfident in his abilities, and leave things to the last moment, which has already cost him and his team in the past.
As Marquez highlighted, this is an aspect that Faye needs to work on going forward, and to reach the next milestone in his Barcelona career.
