Pau Cubarsí and the art of the pass

A year ago no one had heard of a 16-year-old kid from Barcelona’s academy named Pau Cubarsí and he has already transitioned into one of most important players for the senior squad.

In fact, with the way that Hansi Flick is trying to play, he might be one of the most important players because of his incredible passing abilities. It’s rare for a young centerback to possess high-level possession and distribution abilities but Cubarsí excels in both of those.

If you’re wondering just how important he is to this current Barcelona squad, look no further than Athletic Club’s manager Ernesto Valverde who earlier in the season said:

On top of his role and excellent performances at Barcelona, he just made his competitive international debut with the Spanish National Team. Being able to break into a national team this early in his career shows promising signs of his potential.

In this article let’s break down why his passing is so impactful and the important role he is playing at such a young age.

All data is going to be from FBREF.com unless I say otherwise. Once I finish the Pivot Football analytics website I’ll start using all of the data and visuals from there 😃

Passing Ability and Choices

Some of best center backs in possession are the ones who can do two things very consistently.

1. Accurately pass the ball

2. Make progressive passes

Pau Cubarsí currently excels in both of those aspects as he ranks in the 91st percentile for passing completion percentage and in the 80th percentile for progressive passes per 90 when we compare him to other center backs.

The way Barcelona plays as a heavily dominant team is going to allow him to have more attempts as he is also in the 93rd percentile for passes attempted per 90.

Pau Cubarsí is showing a great combo of making accurate passes and then making progressive passes.

One of his top traits with his progressive passing is line-breaking passes which he does consistently to either find runners in behind or break the press and find a midfielder who can further progress the ball.

If you go back and watch Barcelona matches and just focus on him, you’ll see his passing is already at the level of someone who is much more experienced than he is. In reality, being able to have a center back who can play these types of passes is a game-changer because of the ways you can have other players make runs off the ball and he is going to find them.

Role at Barcelona

It’s no secret that Barcelona plays a high press and with that comes a high line of defense, where if you are a center back in this system there is a lot of space behind you and you can’t really make any mistakes with your passing otherwise you are going to be caught out in the break.

Barcelona likes to play out from the back so being able to play line-breaking passes and distribute the ball quickly to find ways to break the first line of the press so players like Pedri and Casadó can distribute it to the attack opens up a ton of space and options.

He’s done excellent this season with what Hansi Flick has asked of him and has played a crucial role in Barcelona being able to press effectively while maintaining that high line.

Weaknesses and Improvements

Even with all of Pau Cubarsí’s incredible passing ability he still has some things to work on.

Sometimes he makes reckless challenges and gives away silly fouls, for example in the Athletic match from earlier this year he gave away a pretty dumb penalty.

But as he gains more experience this decision-making of when to make tackles should improve helping him to become a well-rounded player.

It’s incredible what he’s already become and he’s still only 17 😅

Looks like he’s got a bright future ahead

— McKay