Iniesta is a more complete player than Xavi, he's a much better dribbler for example. He might be less predictable than Xavi, but he is nowhere near as Xavi in terms of effectiveness or consistency. Xavi is the better player for the time being. Xavi is still an unpredictable player though, some of the through balls he pulls off are out of this world, and he is probably the best player in the world in terms of keeping the ball. Really, how many times do you see him lose the ball, how many times do you see opposition midfielders taking the ball off him? Exactly, very little.
I would actually say he is a more intelligent and a more skillful player than Cesc, but Cesc has probably got better vision, as he can pick out a through ball better than Xavi.
And we weren't in transition last year Vlatko, we played our best season since 2005, yet Cesc did not perform well for the whole season like Xavi has done for the past 3 years.