Valverde's undisputed starters

As it stands, Barcelona have played three LaLiga encounters: their 1-0 loss against Athletic Bilbao, their triumphant 5-2 Camp Nou performance against Betis, and their unexpected 2-2 draw against Osasuna last week. 

Three matches where Ernesto Valverde has started to give hints as to what this year's Barça will look like, always keeping Barcelona's usual style of play at the heart of his lineup choices. 

While all of Barça patiently waits for Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to fully recover, there are five Blaugrana footballers who have already been giving Valverde's seal of approval by playing every single game since the start of the campaign: Ter Stegen, Lenglet, Pique, Jordi Alba and Griezmann. 

Undisputed starters for Valverde, who already accumulate 270 minutes this season amongst them despite most of them featuring for their national teams during the international break. 

However, there are still five players who have not had chance to play so far: the injured Messi and Neto, and defenders Moussa Wagué, Samuel Umtiti and Jean Clair Todibo.

There is no doubt that, as soon as he recovers, the Argentine forward will become indisputable in the Catalan starting eleven, forming an attacking couple with his partner and friend Luis Suarez, thus limiting the playing time for academy products Ansu Fati and Carles Perez.