Iñigo Martínez became the kind of defender whose impact was only truly felt once he left. At Barcelona, he wasn’t the headline star but the quiet stabilizer, the one who made the system work without fuss. His calm authority, positioning, and consistency gave the team a backbone that allowed others to shine. When he departed for Al Nassr in 2025, the void was immediate. Flick’s rotations lost balance, younger defenders were exposed, and the backline no longer had that glue holding it together. Fa