Trust me on this one. I'm rarely wrong about this. The board did not go for a very sound option, in fact an egregious one, and this is what practically revolves around Barto's reign here. He's not better than Coutinho, neither is Coutinho better than the him. This sounds like quite the juxtaposition but to simply put, they are simply great players who needs a position best played to their abilities. They can't be compared. Now you can say a great manager can most certainly force him to adapt but I mean, what's the point? He's discarding his strengths just to play in somewhere he is less comfortable in.
Even if Griezmann does play in his best position for eg. a SS/False 9, it would mean Messi would have to forced to play differently. But not what you would expect from a 32 year old player, who already lost majority of his speed. Messi is not Salah who is able to be a winger as well as play an inside forward. Messi was able to play like that to an extent in 2014/2015 but even then he was still largely the heavily central and pivotal juggernaut that led attacks for both Neymar and Suarez, who were both very agile, clinical and were able to take on defenders at that time. Griezmann simply does not play like them, he depends mostly on his work rate and large amount of movements, and solely operates as a linkup point like Messi and occasionally score goals, free kicks and penalties. He's basically very similar to Messi even with his left foot, but hinges on his work rate and movement and simple linkup, but lacks everything else from sheer finishing to dribbling.
We should be getting the best out of Messi's remaining years by allowing him to play his best position, not go for players who just cannot compensate with what we lost with prime Neymar and Suarez. Even Neymar's change in playstyle was affecting the club ALOT, who was still very much in his prime. How he got alot less goals and was less of a consistent contribution despite a few good standout performances. Positions and roles are extremely important, being world class SHOULD be secondary, as great managers can always create a world class product based on their potential.
The board simply got this wrong. No hate on Griezmann, neither am I implying manager has no responsibilty. Just one of the few players who shouldn't be here at all. And 120 million is no joke.
