Barcelona believe 19-year-old academy ace is not ready to replace Busquets

As Barcelona continue their search for a new defensive midfielder to replace captain Sergio Busquets, they are fast running out of targets in the market.

Indeed, Marcelo Brozovic is the latest target slipping out of the Blaugrana’s hands after moves for Martin Zubimendi and Joshua Kimmich were rendered practically impossible.

With the club now looking at other options, the name of academy ace Marc Casado has also been thrown into the mix.

But, according to Adrian Sanchez, Barcelona do not see the 19-year-old midfield prodigy ready to take up such a responsibility at the moment.

Casado has been with Barça since 2016 when he joined the La Masia youth setup from CF Damm. The defensive midfielder has enjoyed steady progress through the ranks at the Catalan outfit.

The teenager was part of the pre-season tour of the US last year and even made his first-team debut for the Blaugrana in November against Viktoria Plzen. It remains his solitary senior appearance for Barça, but he has been a regular in training sessions under Xavi.

It is expected that Casado will be on the pre-season trip to the US this summer as well. In fact, it has also been suggested that one of him or Aleix Garrido could be promoted to the first team in the upcoming season.

While that may be so, Barcelona believe that Casado is still not ready to replace Busquets in the senior side. The Catalans think that the Spanish ace still has a lot of development to go through before he can step up to that level.

So, while he may be used as a possible backup in the pivot position next season, he is not seen as a frontline option for the role at the moment.