No saving Riqui Puig: less minutes with Xavi than Koeman or Setien
The midfielder does not want to give up on his Barcelona dream despite a lack of game time
Riqui Puig's involvement in Barcelona's first team has slowly decreased. The arrival of Xavi Hernandez was supposed to represent a new chance for the midfielder, but after 20 games under the new coach, he has hardly featured.
Ernesto Valverde gave him his debut, but when it really mattered, he disappeared. He made three appearances under Valverde, one in the Copa del Rey and two in LaLiga, all in the 2018-19 season.
UNDER ERNESTO VALVERDE: 3 GAMES, 192 MINUTES, 0 GOALS, 1 ASSIST
Setien liked
Riqui returned to first-team training and matchday squads under Quique Setien. In fact, he played for 19 minutes in Setien's first game in charge. Later, there was a spell when he didn't play as much but he returned at the end of the season. It even prevented him playing in the playoffs for the B team, as was also the case with Ansu Fati.
However, his participation was limited to LaLiga. He didn't have a minute in the Champions League under Setien, neither against Napoli or Bayern Munich.
But he ended up featuring in 12 fo Setien's 25 games.
UNDER QUIQUE SETIEN: 12 GAMES, 578 MINUTES, 0 GOALS, 2 ASSISTS
No Koeman click
The average dropped with Koeman, even though it was the Dutch coach who officially gave him a first-team number for the first time for the 2020-21 season. The relationship between the two had ups and downs, with Koeman saying it would be best if Riqui Puig left on loan for some game time.
In the end, he played in 28 of the 67 official matches Koeman took charge off, although many of those appearances were just in the final stages of matches.
UNDER RONALD KOEMAN: 28 GAMES, 743 MINUTES, 1 GOAL, 0 ASSISTS
Surprise with Xavi
After Koeman left, Sergi Barjuan took charge for three games and Riqui played in two of them.
UNDER SERGI BARJUAN: 2 GAMES, 51 MINUTES, 0 GOALS, 0 ASSISTS
And then came Xavi. Everyone expected the coach to give more game time to Puig. But he has played very little, even less than under Koeman -- 41 percent of Koeman's games and 35 percent of Xavi's.
With Xavi, Puig has played 300 minutes of 1800 possible since he took charge. He played 90 of them against Mallorca when Barça were hit by a coronavirus outbreak at the start of the year. Since that day, Jan. 2, he has not played in LaLiga.
With the competition there is in midfield -- Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, Gavi, Nico and Pedri are all ahead of him -- it's difficult to imagine him being given a relevant role. But the kid from Catalonia still believes he has a place at Barça and he won't give up. He never has done before.
UNDER XAVI HERNÁNDEZ: 7 GAMES, 300 MINUTES, 0 GOALS, 0 ASSISTS
