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Frank de Boer spoke about Philippe Coutinho this week. The former Barcelona star said part of the reason why Coutinho didn’t work in Barcelona didn’t fit the puzzle. Basically it all boiled down to Coutinho’s role in Liverpool being too similar to Lionel Messi’s role in Barcelona.
“I think Coutinho was a player where everything [went through] him, every ball went to him in Liverpool.
“He could probably do less work, basically what Messi does with Barcelona. If you’re not doing it, maybe it’s okay, they can handle that, but if it’s two similar types of players, who also want every ball and have that special position on the team, then you’ll see how vulnerable a team can be.
“I think we saw it with Barcelona. There is only one who can do that now and that is Messi. I think Coutinho is an amazing player, but sometimes he doesn’t fit the puzzle and maybe with another club everything will work out perfectly.
“It does not mean that he is a bad player. It does not mean that you are not a great player when you cannot play for Barcelona, no.”
Frank de Boer | Source
It is difficult to argue with this feeling. Frankly, pun, it is an interesting scenario to imagine Coutinho at Barça without Messi. Things could have been different or not. Probably not.
