Philippe Coutinho has returned from Germany as Champions League champions and knowing that Ronald Koeman was counting on him to play in his favorite position: the midfielder. The ingredients for the Brazilian to enjoy a second life in Barcelona are served, and the footballer, who will return to play a league classic at the Camp Nou two years after the 5-1 of 2018 in which he scored, has this Saturday a golden opportunity to be transcendent and show that he can have a second life at Barça.
Coutinho wants to change the image he left at the club since arriving in January 2018, in which in a year and a half he was squandering the illusions that his signing had generated. In fact, the Brazilian’s landing at Barça was preceded by an unusual situation regarding the transfer of a footballer who had the star label hanging on it. “In the summer of 2017, Neymar deceived us. He left PSG without warning us and left us in a very complicated situation: with little time to act in the market and with all the clubs knowing that we had just made a lot of money. We insisted on Coutinho, but Liverpool had very high expectations. In the winter market, as we had already had more time to work on his signing, we were able to take him to Barcelona ”, a manager who was then at the forefront of negotiations to sign him reminds ARA.
“The player and his family contributed a lot, but Liverpool’s first pretensions were unbearable. We had already negotiated with them years before for Luis Suárez and at first they had asked us for 94 million euros! We had to remind them that in the first months of competition Suárez could not play because he was sanctioned “, explains the same source. The Uruguayan signed in 2014 in exchange for 81 million euros. The Brazilian would do so in January 2018 in exchange for 160 million, 120 fixed and 40 in variables. “The signing of Neymar had burst the market,” recalls the source consulted. Precisely, Luis Suárez was a pillar for Coutinho’s arrival in Barcelona, as they “maintained a very good relationship” of the stage they had shared at Liverpool and “both he and Messi looked for a home in Castelldefels, next to ‘where they lived’.
Neither Neymar nor Iniesta’s relief
The pieces of the puzzle for Coutinho to fit in at the Camp Nou seemed clear: the footballer wanted to come, he had the approval of the heavyweights in the locker room and the club wanted to sign him. But after a first half course of adaptation, unable to compete in the Champions League, the Brazilian started the following season as a starter, but gradually shrank until he ended up receiving the whistles of the Camp Nou fans, with who would end up facing off in April 2019 by covering his ears after scoring against Manchester United. Coutinho did not fit in as a striker in Neymar’s place or as a midfielder, in the vacancy left by Iniesta. With Ernesto Valverde he did not find his place in the eleven. Now, with the 4-2-3-1 scheme, Ronald Koeman has given him the baton of the midfield. “He is a very good player, but in order to be able to give the maximum performance, you have to start to put him in his place,” the coach defended at a press conference earlier this month. “He learned a lot on the stage at Bayern Munich,” Koeman added.
“At Bayern Coutinho improved in work dynamics. From using the training sessions to growing up and re-believing that he is a footballer ready to play at the highest level. If you see a Bayern Flick training the intensity is very high. Coutinho integrated well into the dynamics of the team and had the feeling of belonging to a group. It was clear in the final stretch of the season, when he came out to play plugged in despite not being a starter. This is a key point in a footballer that we have seen that sometimes he loses confidence easily “, explains Marc Mayola, an analyst specializing in the Bundesliga.
That Koeman is also giving more intensity to Barça’s training sessions and that he has entrusted a specific role to Coutinho are decisive elements for the Brazilian’s confidence. “One of the key pieces in a footballer’s ecosystem is to have the confidence of the coach. Now he is back in a dressing room that he knows, but with new rules and with a coach who has a different way of doing things and who trusts him to play in a position where he fits in, ”said Marcela Herrera, professor of high performance psychology at the University of Vic.
It has also helped strengthen Coutinho’s confidence that at Bayern, despite finishing the season without being a starter and playing for the side, he continued to be useful. “In the final stretch of the season, who played 10 was Müller and Coutinho was a substitute, but he often came in to play 11 freely to go inside and thus make his play characteristic of being profiled until to find the shot “, recalls Mayola. The analyst, however, determines that where Coutinho’s game at Barça can best fit is in the middle.
“At Barça, with two open ends”
“Bayern could do well playing 11 because they came with a lot of people to the rival area. Davies filled the band when Coutinho went inside, Lewandoski and Müller fixed the central and Goretzka joined from behind. This opened up the spaces that Coutinho needed, ”explains Mayola. “On the other hand, I think Barça should play with two open ends, such as Ansu and Trincão, so that they can force their rivals to defend them. In this way, they open up the spaces for Messi and Coutinho to be able to understand each other between the midfielders and the rival central defenders “, argues Mayola about an eleven where he sees no place for Griezmann.
There is one last point that, despite being a disgrace, can play in favor of Coutinho’s new acclimatization at Barça: the fact of playing without fans in the stands. “Without an audience, the player has fewer distraction factors and what is the external perception of his abilities. In other words, there are fewer elements that can distract him and distract him from what he has to do at that moment in the game “, analyzes Herrera.
However, it seems that the conditions for Philippe Coutinho to fit Barça are in their favor. Now it depends on the footballer. If he falls asleep, there’s a 17-year-old boy named Pedri knocking on the door.
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