Just from a quality and standing point of view yes, but i wouldn't be so sure that Ernie likes him as a CF all that much. Could very well just end up like Coutinho as Iniesta heir = Griezmann ends up playing LW and we're back to square one
True, because - unfortunately - EV has very limited imagination...
A creative coach ALWAYS matches the tactics, posts, to the given players he has.
A setup
should always mirror the key-players and their unmistakable characteristics.
All that EV actually does is having a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2 and also a semi-4-3-3 setup, and he plays the them accordingly, by trying to match his players to one of his favored setups.
If he had creative imagination, there would be definitely place for both Coutinho and Dembele (obviously NOT merely as LWs), so ideally he should "invent" a formation where Coutinho's ability having a sort of "creator-role" and Dembele's speed and unpredictability could both be used for a creative attacking formation.
But EV does not have that gift of fantasy.
Thus, as far as scoring goals, he is merely dependent on Messi's genius and Suarez's still existing hunger and capability to score, but the latter is simply an occasional and unpredictable ingredient by now. That's why the mentioned two are his almost sole offensive weapons, Messi playing in a free-role and the rapidly declining Suarez playing as a classic center-forward, which actually fits into the team's overall flow of attacking only when Suarez has good periods or better days.
That's why Coutinho is not a fit and never will be, until EV is the trainer.
Did EV think this over when the club was waiting for Coutinho to join? Did he "invent" a formation that suits both Messi and Coutinho? He has definitely not done that.
He experimented Cou to play on the right, as a midfielder, as a left winger, but strictly by his original 4-3-3 formation (and there's no need to mention the mostly ill-fated defensive 4-4-2 of his).
A coach with imagination would definitely have invented a new strategy after Neymar's departure, would have definitely made use of the pace of Dembele as an addition, but you can clearly see that neither Dembele's speed is actually used (tactically) nor Coutinho's abilities as a creator (which he does quite well in Brazil's NT).
Neither Coutinho, nor Griezmann or anyone else for that matter will ever solve the problem, until a coach realizes that by having world-class individual players is not enough in itself (not for optimal results but for optimum play and style) to solve the problems that still exist, regardless the actual number of trophies being won.
The team has no real attacking-minded midfielders (like Xavi and Iniesta were) and hence there is a gap between the midfield and Messi-Suarez.
Thus Messi needs to go deeper to do also the creating part, Alba almost plays as a winger, which needs to re-invent the role of a LF, and Dembele's abilities are just not used enough in this slowish setup, as well as the potential abilities of Coutinho aren't.
Until EV (or another coach) realizes that he needs a different setup,
tailored to his best available players, all results will be occasional and NOT due to structural supremacy.
Our system is way different than Atletico where he is consistently great, and he would have better attackingchances here..
