Riqui Puig wins over Koeman with his hard work and attitude

A good attitude and hard work. They are the two things which have helped Riqui Puig to get into Ronald Koeman's side. The Dutch coach put him up for sale and had digs at him in a press conference in December. The situation is very different right now. 

The midfielder has become more and more important for the club. Proof of that is the amount of game time he is getting. In the first half of the season (until the new year), he had played five matches. He has already made six appearances since the turn of the year. 

Scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shootout win in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Real Sociedad could have changed things. The academy player asked to take the fifth penalty, to the surprise of his coach. Koeman gave it him and Puig did not disappoint. 

Puig also scored in the La Liga victory at Elche. He headed home the second to seal the points and earned himself a starting XI spot against Rayo Vallecano in the Copa del Rey. The main thing he has to do is keep up this good form in the league, not just in the cups. 

Who is Riqui competing with? 

For Riqui Puig to nail down a starting spot in the league, he will have to get in ahead of some of his teammates. Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri are those who tending to play in midfield under Ronald Koeman. 

The '12', even though he is playing well, is struggling to shine. Busquets is a different type of player to him, more defensive, Frenkie has upped his performances recently while Pedri is showing his quality every time he gets into the final third.