Should Barcelona have kept Fabregas and sold Iniesta - TopicsExpress

Should Barcelona have kept Fabregas and sold Iniesta instead? While Cesc has been a revelation on his return to the Premier League with Chelsea, his former teammate looks out of sorts in Luis Enriques side at Camp Nou. Oct 29, 2014 7:45:00 AM When Barcelonas best midfielder is a surprise inclusion on the 23-man shortlist for the Ballon dOr, it is evident things are not quite as they were at Camp Nou. Andres Iniesta was nominated for the prestigious individual prize on Tuesday, and on Monday night the 30-year-old received the trophy for Best Attacking Midfielder in La Liga last season at the LFP awards. Earlier in October, he also claimed the Golden Foot gong for his contribution to football. Iniestas impact on the game as part of the best Barcelona team in history and the superb Spain side which dominated international football between 2008 and 2012 is undoubted, yet his current contribution is under question following a slow start to the season and a poor performance in Saturdays Clasico defeat to Real Madrid. In the meantime, former Barca midfielder Cesc Fabregas is in fantastic form at Chelsea this term and has become the most important player for Jose Mourinhos Premier League leader. After three turbulent seasons at Camp Nou, the 27- year-old is back to his best and putting in the kind of performances he was expected to produce at his hometown club. So did Barcelona sell the wrong midfielder last summer? Should the Catalans have kept Fabregas and sold Iniesta instead? Iniesta has shown glimpses this season of his brilliant best, setting up Lionel Messi for two lovely goals in the Champions League games against Ajax and Paris Saint-Germain recently and almost scoring a special one himself as he glided past several defenders before seeing a shot saved against the Dutch champion last week. But the 30-year-old has been heavily criticized in Barcelona following his disappointing display in Saturdays Clasico, when he not only failed to make an impression in attack but also gifted the crucial third goal to Madrid with a careless misplaced pass on the halfway line when he should have cleared. Although an admirer of the technical abilities of his former Barca teammate, Luis Enrique wants more intensity from Iniesta as he looks to reinvent the Blaugrana this term. On Saturday, he got neither and a calf injury now means the midfielder is sidelined for three weeks. After [Lionel] Messi, Iniesta is our most inventive player, Luis Enrique said in July. Hes like Harry Potter: one, two, three and whoosh, hes past the player, like he has a magic wand. Back in a three-man midfield with Xavi and Sergio Busquets on Saturday, however, that magic was kept well under wraps by Madrid at the Bernabeu. Xavi, at 34, struggles when his team is without the ball against top teams, while Busquets is currently troubled with a number of fitness concerns which have taken their toll on his performances this term.