If Busquets was "too weak defensively and in transitions" and "ridiculously easy to dribble past and a massive liability against quicker/physical opponents", how do we namedrop Pirlo of all players in the next post?
Busquets was the best defensively because he was always at the right place, he didn't need to chase after the ball. He was in the right position to intercept and block passing lanes in the first place, kept the ball under any sort of pressure and distributed it vertically between the lines in the most congested areas to initiate attacks and speed up play.
If today's Barca had prime Busquets behind Pedri and Frenkie no one would cry about Flick's high line. We wouldn't run into counterattacks and chase after the ball anywhere near as much.
This is just so good to watch:
Anyone else would play the red pass to the midfield partner. Then the ball would further go out wide to to the fullback. Yamal would drop and collect the ball at the sideline and try to dribble 2 or 3 defenders on his own then put in a cross or curl shot if his dribbling succeed. Instead, Busi casually takes out 5 players playing the green arrow vertical pass between the lines and suddenly your number 10 got the ball in the middle and can distribute it to the left wing, right wing or striker infront of him. It opens up far more options than "give it to Yamal on the sideline and inshallah". Even though he is not the one making the assist or even the pre-assist, he initiates the entire sequence of play that follows.
Of course if you let Mbappe run into space and ask Busquets to keep up and last ditch stop him he'd be toast but why should that be my benchmark to rate a DM? The success rate of stopping elite forwards running into space is always a gamble, even for quicker, stronger, more athletic DMs.