Showdown
DeanOur first End of an Era card is here and it’s fair to say this is a special one. End of Era cards are always a little bittersweet at the start of the game cycle. It’s great to have these cards but it’s such a shame we wouldn’t get a more juiced-up version of this item compared to what we would get if released a couple of months later. But Sergio Busquets has of course, recently retired and so with that comes this very special item.
Busquets was an absolute staple of that Barcelona Midfield alongside Xavi & Iniesta and now we currently have (or are close enough to) that Barca midfield trio as Icon items in the game. I say this because of course, a recent change in the End of An Era items has meant that these cards get Icon chemistry and of course, give boosted chem to players linked to him.
Of course, as mentioned, this isn’t as juiced as we would maybe see later in the cycle, but actually, this item certainly feels a little bit more familiar to the Busquets item we had been used to over the years. An overall from the Fifa 17-22 Era with Pace tracking all the way back to Fifa 10. Of course, from his base card, this item has had a +8 overall boost with a whopping +42 to Pace and +19 to shooting. Also worth noting a +12 to passing, +11 to defending and +10 to physicals. So EA have done a great job of getting this card some serious relevancy. He has also been given the Tiki Taka, which of course calls back to that Barca Midfield playstyle, personally, though, I would have liked to have seen a more Defensive Playstyle+ on this item. But no complaining, this is one of the few SBCs to release with a PS+
Chemstyle here quite simply has to be the Shadow. Carry on with the boost to Pace and juice up that Defending.
Here are the following segments to unlock the End of an Era Busquets SBC:
# of players from MLS: Min 1
Squad Rating: Min 86
# of players in squad: 11
Team of the Week Players: Min 1
Squad Rating: Min 86
# of players in squad: 11
# of players from LALIGA EA SPORTS: Min 1
Squad Rating: Min 86
# of players in squad: 11
Squad Rating: Min 87
# of players in squad: 11
Team of the Week Players: Min 1
Squad Rating: Min 87
# of players in squad: 11
So in total, you’ll be required to complete 5 segments in order to complete the SBC for Busquets. A price tag of just shy of 400k to complete. Whilst I wasn’t expecting this one to be cheap just to the card type, this one is of course, on the expensive side. He will HAVE to perform to even argue this is worth doing.
How did he perform in-game?
+ As you would of course expect, his defending is superb. His standing tackles could not be faulted and were a major problem for the opposition. He can win the ball with ease.
+ Thanks to the Tiki Taka+ as well as Incisive Pass, he really throws it back to the Barca-esc midfield playstyle. He pings the ball around the midfield and opens some easy goals for the attack.
/ Physically though, he didn’t quite impress. He got the job done and worked hard to fend off the opposition, but he could really use a bit more of a boost to his Strength in order to push him to that elite level of defensive midfielder.
- Despite that massive upgrade, his pace still didn’t quite feel right. We know with Busquets it’s more of a marathon than a sprint, but when in possession of the ball, he’s caught up to fast.
- Which leads to the dribbling. He controls the ball well and handles the pressure but he just simply isn’t agile enough. He turns like a truck so your best bet is to utilise him to win the ball and quickly pass it off.
Sergio Busquets - Cop or Flop?
As much as I really wanted to enjoy this card, he simply didn’t have that wow factor on the field. He didn’t have a whole lot of presence about him and for a 400k SBC, he really needed to be one of those stand-out players that holds a position in your Starting 11 for some time. Unfortunately, I think Busquets has fallen victim to being released too soon, because with some slight boosts across the board, this could be a great item.
When you think about it really, across every game, this man has been absolute fodder. Whilst Tiki Taka is a great PS+ to have on a midfielder, I really felt like this man needed something slightly more aggressive to give him that edge over other CDMs. No disrespect to the man, but you should definitely save your coins with this SBC.
Verdict = FLOP
