Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie is apparently furious with his situation at the Catalan club and is looking at potential moves, including returning to the Serie A. The Ivory Coast international signed for Barcelona over the summer after the expiration of his contract at AC Milan.
His arrival was widely considered the changing of the guard in the Blaugrana, as fans expected legendary midfielder Sergio Busquets to drop to the bench in favour of Kessie. However, that is far from what has actually transpired, as Kessie struggles to get minutes under Xavi Hernandez, starting in only four of Barcelona’s games across all competitions.
The midfielder has only 418 minutes of football under his belt, as opposed to his position as a guaranteed starter under Stefano Pioli at Milan, where he also donned the captain’s armband.
It was speculated during the time of Kessie’s arrival to the Blaugrana that he will start the majority of the games. Even after Xavi continued to persist with the World Cup-winning Busquets in the league, it was perceived that Kessie would start in the more physically demanding games, against oppositions like Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and in the Champions League against the likes of Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
With Busquets not being considered as physically dominant anymore to go up against the likes of Aurelien Tchouameni, Marcos Llorente, Joshua Kimmich, or Nicolo Barella, Kessie would be the ideal partner to Frenkie de Jong in a pivot of a 4-2-3-1 formation. However, that has not taken place at the Catalan club, prompting Kessie to reportedly offer himself to a number of clubs, including AC Milan and Juventus.
Kessie is further supposedly troubled by the fact that Xavi does not look at him as Busquets’ successor but is reportedly looking at young Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi, eyeing a move for the midfielder next summer.
