'Both will have great ascendancy': Iniesta's 2019 prediction on two Barca midfielders worked only for one of them

"Frenkie De Jong and Arthur Melo? I see them as two exceptional players, with a huge amount of influence on the pitch," Andres Iniesta told Spanish outlet Marca in 2019.

"They understand the philosophy of the game. They control the tempo, the ball, the situation in general... for sure that they will have a great ascendancy within the team.

"The question is how the whole engine room functions with Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitić and everyone else in the middle of the pitch."

Back in the day, De Jong and Arthur were expected to replace the iconic Xavi-Iniesta duo but only the Dutchman actually managed to become a key member of the team whom the Catalans are badly missing right now.

With Arthur, it was just the opposite: the Brazilian failed to establish in the team and was eventually swapped for Miralem Pjanic in a deal that saw Barcelona lose €28m.