Sergio Busquets is the only player on this list who has retained their rating from last year's game, with the Barcelona man staying on 85. This one could have gone either way. Very few Barcelona or Spain stars covered themselves in glory last season with Barca finishing their campaign trophyless and Spain being knocked out of the World Cup group stages. But then again, Busquets remains a mainstay of both the Barcelona team and the national side and an important player for both. In Barca's recent La Liga clash with Villarreal, for example, he boasted a pass accuracy of 92% and recovered 13 balls, losing zero. So while he could have been downgraded, we think taking the middle ground and retaining his rating is about right. Busquets's core stats remain largely the same. His pace stays at 56 from last year but his shooting falls one point to 59. while his passing abilities also see a slight decrease from 79 to 78, which is perhaps the most debatable aspect of his score considering his distribution is considered one of his best attributes.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
