The morphing roles of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie

Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie were the first signings Barça announced this summer as they reshuffled their squad.

Both were finishing their contracts with Chelsea and Milan, respectively, and arrived at Camp Nou at zero cost and under contract until 2026.

Their roles, however, have undergone some changes.

Christensen was one of the leaders of Tuchel's Chelsea defence and Kessie captained the AC Milan ship from midfield.

The fierce competition at Barça, both at the heart of the back four and in midfield, has relegated them to a secondary role to which they were not accustomed.

The Dane struck a great partnership with Eric Garcia throughout the pre-season and during the first two league games. Sickness prevented him from playing against Real Valladolid and Sevilla, he started on the bench.

The arrival of Kounde puts him a step below the Frenchman, as well as the untouchable Araujo and the growing Eric Garcia.

The Ivorian, for his part, has yet to start any of the four official matches so far. He played the last 17 minutes against Rayo, the last six against Real Sociedad and the last 14 against Valladolid. In the Sánchez-Pizjuán he left empty-handed.

Xavi acknowledged that he will help the team and will be important, but it is a "question of adaptation".

The truth is that Busquets, Gavi, Pedri and De Jong are still ahead of him, but his profile is different from all of them.

Despite being two players who have more than proven themselves with their previous teams and national teams, both have been overshadowed by the arrival of more polished players such as Raphinha, Kounde and Lewandowski.

The spotlight is elsewhere.

The season is long and tonight they could get more minutes against Viktoria Plzen and may even be part of Xavi's starting line-up.