Philippe Coutinho is struggling to impose himself fully at Barcelona.
The club’s supporters and the local media are continually questioning the impact the Brazilian has had since leaving Liverpool. On top of that, there’s the widespread feeling in Catalonia that for the transfer money sent to Anfield, more should be expected.
It does sometimes feel like Barcelona and those surrounding the club still aren’t fully sure what Coutinho actually does and how he could help the team. In hindsight that’s probably something they should have worked out before they started the long process to drag the player away from Liverpool, a club who were very content with his performances.
Well, according to Catalan newspaper Sport, Jurgen Klopp and co weren’t actually so keen on the player.
Coutinho is described as ‘fragile’, he has a ‘doubtful character’ and shows no leadership skills. He can’t cope well with setbacks.
According to the claims, this is what made Klopp decide to sell the player. Sport then say ‘the truth is’ that Mohamed Salah had taken his place in the team anyway, which again suggests they still don’t know what Coutinho does.
The Catalan newspaper say that in England it’s thought the player’s talent is ‘limited by his physical capacity’, and: ‘His cardiovascular system doesn’t allow him to throw himself physically like other better-equipped players’
Coutinho ‘lacks the lung capacity to be a long-range midfielder’.
Given all of this, Sport believe if things don’t change before the summer then Barcelona should look at a sale.
