Barcelona End-of-Season Player Ratings: Fermin’s 9/10 headlines the midfield rankings | OneFootball

There is always a temptation, when judging Barcelona’s midfield, to compare it with arguably the greatest midfield trio of all time: Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.

The shirt puts so much pressure on anyone who plays in that position. It asks for poetry. It asks for choreography. It asks for subtle feints like Iniesta. It asks for disguised passes like Busquets. It asks for metronomic precision like Xavi. In many ways, it asks for the impossible.

Hansi Flick’s midfield definitely played a key role in their La Liga title win this season, but they must be rated in isolation.

Pedri remained the compass. Fermin Lopez hit new heights. Dani Olmo added final-third imagination and clutch mentality. Frenkie de Jong offered ball-carrying and control.

Marc Bernal returned from a long injury and made an impression. Gavi came late but played a crucial role in the run-in. Marc Casado huffed and puffed through a difficult second full campaign with the first team.

Together, though, they always found a way to matter. And somehow, it worked.

Barça Universal brings you the season ratings for the Barcelona midfielders from the recently concluded campaign.

Pedri: 8.5

Pedri’s season was not perfect, but that was mostly because his body let him down rather than because of any question of quality. Even with those interruptions, though, he remained Barcelona’s best midfielder this season, and comfortably so.

Every single time a game got tricky, Pedri was the one who put his hand up. He made 43 appearances across all competitions, scoring twice and producing 12 assists.

Pedri doing what he does best. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

The numbers are strong, but Pedri always transcends those. He is the one who controls the pace of a game. He decides when the game has to pause and when it has to accelerate.

Only a distal biceps femoris tear and a hamstring injury prevent the rating from climbing higher. Availability matters, and Pedri was unable to ensure that. There was also a slight drop-off towards the end of the season by his own lofty standards.

But when he played, the hierarchy was obvious, and he made football look really easy.

Frenkie de Jong: 8

Frenkie de Jong’s season was largely good, but he suffered from the same availability issues as Pedri.

He made 38 appearances, scoring once and providing eight assists across all competitions. He also extended his Barcelona contract until 2029 during the season, underlining his importance in the club’s immediate future.

At his best, Frenkie gave Barcelona something very few midfielders can offer. He carried the ball through pressure. He broke lines without passing. His dribbling often gave the Catalan club a new solution.

It was probably his best season in a Barça jersey. Injuries did not allow him to become more dominant, though. A muscle injury kept him out for a short period in September, and then he missed a longer stretch from late February until April with a right hamstring injury.

Had he had a strong end to the season, the rating might have been slightly higher, but an eight seems fair for the campaign that he had.

Marc Bernal: 7

Marc Bernal’s season is more than the numbers. It is about context. He returned from an ACL injury in September and managed to make 33 appearances, scoring five goals and providing an assist.

More than just a pivot. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

For a teenager coming back from that kind of injury, it was impressive. Bernal’s profile is very interesting because he is unlike any other midfielder in the squad.

He is not simply another passer. He is not simply another runner. He is a player who can defend space, make the midfield look calm and still get forward to score goals.

He gave Barça glimpses of how good he can become in the future. If not for another injury setback, a familiar theme among the midfielders, he would probably have ended up with a higher rating.

Even so, this was a very encouraging year. The future looks exciting for the teenager.

Marc Casado: 5

Marc Casado’s season was difficult. He made 34 appearances across all competitions, though many of them came off the bench. Casado’s value lies in the dirty work.

He is expected to cover space, press, compete and win the ball back in midfield, especially while closing out games.

He did this with aplomb in his first season but failed to replicate the magic this time around. Pedri, Frenkie, Bernal and Gavi all leapfrogged him in the deeper midfield role.

None of this makes him a poor player. He just had a poor season. It would not be a surprise to see Barcelona cash in on him this summer, but if he stays, he has a point to prove in the upcoming campaign.

Gavi: 7

It is not often that a player plays less than a third of a season and still ends up with such a high rating. Gavi made only 13 appearances across all competitions this season, and most of them came in the final month and a half.

He went into the surgery room in August expecting to be out for five weeks but came out of it being told that he would not be able to play for five months.

On the back of an ACL injury that kept him out for a year, this injury might have crushed any other player’s confidence, but not Gavi’s.

When he came back in March, he did not look like someone who had been away from the game for so long. He still dived into every tackle, pressed well, passed well and became a starter ahead of Frenkie in the final few important games of the season.

2025/26 was not his year to dominate, but there is no doubt that 2026/27 will be his. That starts at the World Cup.

Fermin Lopez: 9

Fermin Lopez produced the most explosive midfield season at Barcelona. He may not have been the neatest or the one with the best control. That said, without a doubt, he was the most decisive.

He finished the campaign with 48 appearances, scoring 13 goals and providing 17 assists. Those kinds of numbers from midfield are truly world-class.

His campaign also had a signature European moment: a hat-trick against Olympiacos in the Champions League.

Fermin Lopez was unstoppable. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

What makes Fermin so valuable is that he is not your typical Barcelona midfielder. He plays like a player who tries to punch holes through a match.

His runs were sharp, his timing was aggressive and his finishing was spot on. Yet again, there were injuries in September and November, but not enough to derail his momentum.

Fermin did not merely grow this season. He announced himself on the world stage. It is a shame that another injury prevents him from joining Luis de la Fuente’s squad for the World Cup.

Dani Olmo: 8

Dani Olmo’s season was exactly what Barcelona hoped it would be and, for a change, his body actually cooperated.

For years, the Spaniard’s job description read “unbelievable player” but “extremely injury-prone”. He made 49 appearances, scoring eight goals and providing nine assists.

There are very few players who excel more between the lines than Olmo. His natural intelligence is at a different level. He also showed that he can play in a deeper role if needed.

There were weeks when his influence was obvious. Barcelona’s attack had more impetus with him. And then there were weeks when he looked completely out of sorts.

There were also absences, with a calf injury in October and a dislocated left shoulder in December. He has not missed a game since the turn of the year, though.

The only thing holding Olmo’s rating back from venturing into elite territory is his own inconsistency. His season will always be remembered for certain moments rather than as a whole.

A very good season that could have been even better.