Even if we get him, where does he fit though? I'm thinking he's more like an attacking mid like Messi but he isn't Iniesta and will never replace him fully in terms of creativity and passing. Unless he plays as a LW, moving Suarez mid and Messi back.
Meh. Not feeling it. Essentially he is more like a Neymar type player who also has vision and passing but overall still isnt quite the midfielder/playmaker Iniesta is.
I still remember arguing as I was extremely skeptical about the signing of Coutinho back then and people thought I was against the player himself. Essentially I know Coutinho is a more versatile player who can function as a CAM, false 10, a hybrid winger or even a CM, but he will find it hard to properly flourish here. BBZ was extremely approving of the signing because of the physique wise and probably faster than Iniesta.
The huge problem is he gets off on having the freedom to roam and playmake, but here in Barcelona we already have Messi doing that job heavily. Particularly Coutinho's ball retention in tight spaces and defence wise isn't particularly that strong. He definitely could adapt and work on it
and does shows flashes of it, but I doubt it's his strongest asset.
Some people think the solution is to buy Hazard, let me tell you, he wouldn't work either. At least not with Messi here. We should stop looking at attacking midfielders, who likes to roam and playmake. Go for a proper inside forward or winger and defnitely a centre midfielder.
At least for now I can see Coutinho being a good backup to rotate. And as a last resort, I would experiment the 343 with Coutinho as a CAM, and probably try him as a deeper CM role in a 433. Rakitic will have to make way in this case.
