Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets claims the Catalan club do not need to bring in anyone to replace anchorman Yaya Toure.
Busquets made the defensive midfield position his own last season with a string of dominant displays as Barcelona won a second successive Primera Division title under coach Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola, himself a midfielder lynchpin in the 1990s for Barcelona, had hoped to keep Toure as cover for Busquets, but the Ivory Coast star decided to move to Manchester City.
That means Busquets is now the only recognised holding midfielder in the squad, and having missed out on Cesc Fabregas, who is staying at Arsenal, the Catalans have been strongly tipped to make a move for Liverpool's Javier Mascherano.
But Busquets, who also starred for Spain in their World Cup triumph in South Africa, does not believe new recruits for the position are required at the Nou Camp.
"The fact that Toure has left does not mean anything because there are other team-mates who can play in his position, like (Seydou) Keita, or even Xavi or (Andres) Iniesta," Busquets said at a press conference today.
With youngsters such as Jonathan dos Santos and Oriol Romeu waiting in the wings for their chance, Busquets believes Barcelona may not need to sign anyone else at all for the central midfield slots.
"There are a lot of players coming up from the youth team like Romeu and Jonathan dos Santos, and I believe we have the position well covered," he said.
Busquets believes the two youngsters, who both started in the 3-1 defeat at Sevilla in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup on Saturday, will bring different qualities to the team this season.
He said: "Romeu is a physical and very powerful player. He is good in the air and he's very complete - in that sense he is more like me - while Jonathan is a little bit more attacking, more about controlling the ball, more similar to Xavi and Iniesta."
