All the talk is usually about Riqui Puig and his lack of minutes under Ronald Koeman. Fortunately, some early success in the Champions League has given some time to the young Catalan, and the Copa del Rey should provide additional runout. For Puig, a preseason appearance in the double pivot indicated that he may need to learn a new position. Yet recent showings indicate that Koeman is looking to keep him in his more natural role of an attacking midfielder.
Puig isn’t the only young Spanish midfielder looking for minutes though. Puig also isn’t the only midfielder asked to play a different role than they had played their entire career. For Carles Aleñá, he also played his entire career farther up the pitch before being asked to adapt to a role behind the front four. The problem? He still doesn’t get enough minutes and while it may not be a problem for him, his more seamless conversion doesn’t get the same headlines as other players making positional sacrifices.
Aleñá has technically played just one match at the professional level as a defensive midfielder, based on heat maps. This came on loan at Real Betis in July against Real Valladolid, a 2-0 loss for the Andalusians.
Throughout his time in La Masia, he was always the midfield maestro with an attacking sense, playing as an interior in the mold of his Barcelona heroes. He also deputized on the wings when called upon with Barcelona B, 14 times to be exact.
At youth level, he was a goal threat. 18 goals and 14 assists in 89 Barcelona B appearances, plus six goals and one assist in just eight UEFA Youth League showings. Obviously it’s much more difficult to find the net at first team, converting only four goals (three for Barcelona) in 62 appearances between Barça and Betis.
His time on the wings was never going to be his long-term position; that was always going to be in the center of the park. But much like Puig, Aleñá returned from his loan at Betis to find the interior position obsolete in Koeman’s 4-2-3-1. Instead of competing with Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho, Pedri (and now Puig), Aleñá’s only option for minutes at the club that he’s waited a decade to succeed at was to play a role a bit foreign to him.
Yet, in his one start this season, against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League, Aleñá passed the test with flying colors. His 117 touches were the most of any player and his 99% passing (106/107) would make Xavi blush. Three key passes, two accurate crosses, one shot blocked and winning four of six ground duels completed a sensational day for the 22-year-old.
With a birthday in a month, this may be the last chance Aleñá has at Barcelona. Or maybe it won’t be, what with a new board set to arrive in January. His recent showings indicate that he is understanding his new role well, and that may keep him in enough of Koeman’s favor not to get sent out on loan for the second half of the season.
Either he stays or goes in January, Aleñá has showed thus far that he is capable of taking on the challenge of a new position and maybe it’s time we start paying a little more attention to the “other” young Catalan midfielder.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017.
