The idea itself was stupid. We didn't really care about Coutinho before Neymar drama began in summer 2017. Once Neymar left, the board decided to bring Coutinho AND Dembélé to take the vacant spot ? I mean who does that ? It's actually the board's job to identify the right player and work on bringing him to the club. The way our board acted, it's as if they didn't know what to do so they just bought 2 of the most promising players available on the market in hope that one of them would make it here. It's okay to do that usually but not when the 2 guys you bring cost 150m each which are record breaking fees.
For those who say that Couti played LW at Liverpool so that should work at Barca too... Here's the thing: at Liverpool he played with the likes of Mané and Firmino (Sterling and Salah), fast and dynamic players who'll do runs all day long. Coutinho was the wide playmaker kind of winger in a fast attacking team. He'll never get these conditions at Barcelona. Our attacking playmaker is Messi. If you play with Messi in an attacking trio, it doesn't matter who you are, you'll be the one who'll have to make those runs so that Messi can create with the ball at his feet. Be it Coutinho, Dybala or even Maradona himself. Messi is the creator while Suarez is the slow 32yo finisher. That's why we need at least one fast winger in the 11.
If you play with let's say Malcom at number 9 (or I don't know... Gabriel Jesus for example) and Dembélé as RW, then actually Coutinho on the left flank might work. He'd have the creative tasks while the other 2 would make the runs to create space.
As it stands now Coutinho can only succeed at a midfield role. Which one exactly I don't know. What I know is that we need at least one real winger on the pitch. Coutinho shouldn't even fight with Dembélé for a spot in the starting 11. One is a playmaker while the other one is a winger.
