Earlier this season, Xavi Hernandez admitted: “Right now, it is really difficult to take Gavi off the pitch.”
The Barcelona manager’s hands have been tied by the campaign-curtailing knee injury Gavi suffered on international duty with Spain in November. “He gives the team a soul, intensity, the proper rhythm, recoveries,” Xavi gushed, hailing a teenager who has risen above criticism to become one of Barcelona’s most important players this season. “He plays with a contagious passion.”
Xavi and the powers that be at Barcelona now have the unenviable task of replacing Gavi’s unique blend of…
