After starting his FC Barcelona tenure with a minimal of resources in midfield, things have improved significantly for Hansi Flick in the last few months.
During these months, the German coach has seen several important midfielders return from their injuries, and as things stand, Flick has up to seven players for his three midfield spots.
The return that excited the Blaugrana fans the most was inarguably that of Gavi, as the Spanish midfielder returned to full fitness after spending 11 months on the sidelines with a torn ACL.
Hansi Flick took no risks with such an important player and allowed him to return to action in a gradual fashion. By December, the La Masia midfielder had become one of the regular starters for the Barcelona head coach.
However, as SPORT has noted, Gavi is seeing his importance in the Catalan team decline in the last few weeks, and it remains to be seen how much prominence he will have under Flick in the coming decisive months of the season.
This decline in the importance of the young midfielder has been quite clear in the last four games. He did start against Alaves but was subbed out at the half-time break because he had a yellow card to his name.
The case was similar in the ensuing game against Rayo Vallecano, as he was again subbed out at halftime after having been booked.
Then, he did not even play a minute in the game against Las Palmas and got on the pitch quite late in the game against Atletico Madrid, in which he was not able to help his team retain their winning position till the full-time whistle.
One factor that could have influenced Flick to reduce his game time is the harsher reactions that referees are giving to his aggressive actions, which often result in cards and can end up costing the team.
Thus, although there are no doubts about Barcelona’s trust in the €80m-rated midfielder, his importance in the team has still undergone a decline in recent weeks.
