Ivan Rakitic is quickly adapting to life in the middle of Luis Enrique's midfield

Ivan Rakitic's numbers in his first campaign at Barcelona are more than respectable. As well as looking good when he plays and adapting quickly to Luis Enrique's system, he has also contributed five goals and seven assists, which is impressive given his role in midfield. He scored one and created another, for Luis Suarez, in Barça's win over Granada on Saturday. 

In comparison to other midfielders signed by Barça this century, his numbers remain in the shadows of footballers like Deco and Cesc Fabregas, who arrived at Camp Nou as players expected to be at home at the very top level. However, aside from those two, there are few others who have impressed as much as Rakitic has by February in their first year with the club. 

Jari Litmanen was signed by Louis van Gaal in the summer of 1999, although his role was more attacking. Injuries hampered the Finnish player and he ended his first and last season in blaugrana with just four goals.

GERARD, MENDIETA, RIQUELME 

He's not alone, though, and there are many other players who have arrived and been unable to match Rakitic's start. Simao Sabrosa rarely found the net in his two seasons with Barça -- one and three goals. Emmanuel Petit scored once and struggled to impress after leaving Arsenal with Marc Overmars to sign for the Catalan city.

That same summer, in 2000, Joan Gaspart brought Gerard López to the club. He scored four goals in his first season -- two in the league, one in the cup and another in Europe -- and wasn't able to better that in the seasons that followed. Ivan de la Peña also failed to make his mark. 

The following season (2001/02) the Brazilians Rochemback and Geovanni Deiberson turned up, but both left plenty to be desired during their stays with the club. Then it was the turn of Gaizka Mendieta and Juan Roman Riquelme. The former Valencia man arrived on loan from Lazio and found the goal six times -- he was especially dangerous from dead balls and the penalty spot. The other signing that year, Riquelme, also scored six times. However, he wasn't a favourite under Van Gaal and that didn't change under Radomir Antic. 

DECO AND VAN BOMMEL

With the arrival of Joan Laporta as president and the start of the 'Ronaldinho era', new midfielders came on to the scent, such as Edmilson, Edgar Davids and Demetrio Albertini, but as more defensive players, they don't match up to Rakitic. However, even offensive players don't match up to the Croatian. Ricardo Quaresma (one goal), Maxi Lopez (one), Ezquerro (four) and Henrik Larsson (four) all struggled in their first season. 

Mark van Bommel then came in from PSV. The Dutch midfielder would score four times in his first and only season, during which he started in the Champions League final win over Arsenal in Paris due to an injury to Xavi. He played alongside Deco, who had arrived in 2004 from Porto and scored nine goals in his first season with the club. 

KEITA AND CESC

It would be a while before the club went looking for a new midfielder again. Yaya Toure came in eventually, but he played a more defensive position and wasn't the attacking player we now see at Manchester City. Seydou Keita also arrived and brought a lot to the table. He helped balance the team and scored six goals in his first season. 

After winning their third Champions League in Rome, Barça looked to add to Xavi, Iniesta, Toure and Busquets. With Toure leaving, Javier Mascherano arrived. However, he was converted into a defender, while Ibrahim Afellay was only able to contribute two goals from an attacking position. 

Then, in 2011, Cesc Fabregas was signing and Tiago Alcantara was promoted to the first team. Cesc scored 15 times in his first season, while Thiago hit four. Fabregas' numbers have not since been matched by Alex Song, Sergio Roberto, Jonathan dos Santos or Rafinha. 

Rakitic has arrived to change history and at the moment he is doing that. The Croatian has practically equalled the numbers of Mendieta, Riquelme and Keita in his first campaign and even Deco (nine) is now within sight. In terms of assists, Rakitic is also doing better than most midfield signings Barça have made since the year 2000.