The Coutinho Dilemma.

On January 6, 2018, Barça signed Coutinho from Liverpool for €160 million, making him the most expensive transfer in club history, and the Brazilian star signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with a buyout clause of €400 million. His arrival was welcomed by many Blaugrana faithful as part of Barça’s plan to build another great team for many years to come. Unfortunately, a year has since passed and not only has Coutinho failed to impress on the pitch, he is not even an automatic choice in the starting lineup. Should Barça consider offers and cash in on Coutinho or remain patient?

Last year, I had some concerns about the club going after Coutinho during the winter transfer window. The club had just signed Dembélé during the summer for a vast amount and a few months later, Coutinho was rumored to be the next expensive signing. I wanted to wait and see how the team would look when Dembélé returned from his injury before buying Coutinho. There were already doubts on how the team would function when Dembélé returned from his injury while at the same time, try to shoehorn Coutinho into the team with no proper preseason.

A month later, there were grumbles from the fans that Dembélé and Coutinho were not living up to their price tags. Just because their transfer fees were enormous, didn’t mean they were not going to need time to settle. History has shown us that many players need time to adapt to playing for Barça. Henry, Neymar, and Suarez took some time before they got going and both Dembélé and Coutinho should have been afforded some time, perhaps half a season, before being fairly judged on their performances.

A year later, Dembélé is now considered an automatic starter in the starting eleven up front with Suarez and Messi. Coutinho, on the other hand, has not only failed to earn a spot in the starting eleven; his spot in any lineup is still a mystery. Overall, Coutinho appears to be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Under Valverde, we are unsure of what is Coutinho’s best position is. Many hailed his arrival as Iniesta’s successor but it has become apparent that Coutinho is not a midfielder. His few Golazos were not enough to mask his inability to play in the midfield as he either got bullied off the ball often or failed to locate teammates by usually looking down before dribbling towards the box to attempt a thunderous shot on goal.

Of course, some supporters claimed that Coutinho was being played out of position. Folks have said Coutinho plays in the same position as Messi, so when Messi went down with an injury in October, I thought it was time for Coutinho to seize his moment and shine. But alas, Coutinho struggled in Messi’s absence and was soon relegated to the bench by Valverde. Earlier this month, I questioned what to do with Coutinho. Valverde has struggled to find the right formation to include Coutinho with Messi, Suárez and Dembélé, and the Brazilians seems destined to ride the bench for now. However, the bench was not what many had in mind when the club broke their transfer record for Coutinho. Ultimately, Coutinho has failed to shine up front, in the midfield, and in Messi’s absence, so it’s not entirely Valverde’s fault.

Can Valverde find a way to get more out of Coutinho or will the board live with the fact that they spent €160 million for a substitute? I don’t see the board firing Valverde just to accommodate Coutinho, if he is still getting the results and titles. RMC Sport journalist Daniel Riolo recently claimed that PSG may trigger Coutinho’s €400 million as retaliation to Barça beating them in the €75m signing of Ajax star Frenkie de Jong. Perhaps the club should not shy away from such interest if PSG or other clubs trigger the buyout clause or come in a with a big offer, and Barça use that money to reinforce the team with other signings such as Matthijs de Ligt. Being impatient doesn’t have its rewards, but in this situation, it would be rewarding.

Time for a Barça Overhaul!

For the second year in a row, Barça crash out of the Champions League’s Quarter-Finals. The team has a few weeks of football left to try to win a domestic double. However, an overhaul is in order for next season.

If there’s ever a line from a movie that is synonymous with FC Barcelona, it has to be the line uttered in The Dark Knight. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” This applies to both managers and players. We have seen managers such as Cruyff, Rijkaard, Guardiola, and now Luis Enrique be admired only to be turned on by the fans. The same applies with players who were once worshipped but then left the club through the back door. At this moment, Luis Enrique is becoming the villain as the club fails to impress on the pitch.

Today’s scoreless draw against Juventus was Luis Enrique’s final European match as a Barça manager and it ended with a thud. Just a few years ago, he witnessed his team score three goals against Juventus in the Champions League Final. Sadly, his side failed to score over two legs against Juventus this season. Both teams had the same two managers but the performance and results were such a contrast from back then and now.

The manager and the board assembled this team full of expensive signings and what do they have to show for it? All these new signings and only Umtiti has shined. La Masia neglected for expensive signings who have failed to deliver. The short term goal of success over a long term plan of sticking with tradition that got them success has not paid off.

Many Barça haters claim anyone can coach this team to success. Well, for the third time in four seasons, and the last two seasons, Barça are out of the Champions League at the Quarter-Finals stage. Perhaps those who did not appreciate Pep Guardiola can now respect the difficult task of making it to four straight Semi-Finals, and two finals in three years.

Luis Enrique’s baffling decision to start 33 year old smoker Jérémy Mathieu to keep pace with the speedy Juan Cuadrado in the first leg doomed Barça. Mathieu was abysmal just a few days earlier against Malaga and was taken off at halftime. Nonetheless, Lucho started Mathieu against Juventus in Turin and again had to take him off at halftime for Paco Alcácer. The damage was done and it was going to be tough to muster a comeback against this Juventus side.

Lucho’s decision to bring on Mascherano for Sergi Roberto with twelve minutes to go was deflating. The side needed three goals and instead of bringing on Denis Suarez or even the young kid Alena, Lucho brought on a defensive midfielder. At least the team kept a clean sheet. With El Clásico just a few days away, Barça have their backs against the wall in a must win game. Anything else will make their quest for another league title futile.

Juventus were the better side who were also better coached and will now face either Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid or the surprising Monaco in the Semi-Finals. Luck however is not on their side since the last four sides who eliminated Barça at this stage of the competition never went on to win the competition; Paris Saint-Germaine (1994-1995); Juventus (2002-2003); and Atlético (2013-2014 & 2015-2016).

Barça will have an interesting summer ahead of them. The team is in need of an overhaul with more players being sold along with the signing of players needed in certain positions. The idea of assistant coach Juan Carlos Unzué or current Athletic manager Ernesto Valverde are a band aid option at best that fails to generate any enthusiasm. We need a manager from the Cruyff school, such as Oscar Garcia, who will pay attention to the youth and take the club back to the “Total Football” style that has been abandoned for this predictable direct, and also dull, football approach we have witnessed the last two seasons.

Failure to hire the right manager will tarnish Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu’s legacy as the men who inherited one of the greatest football teams of all time, if not the greatest, and allowed it to regress under their watch. Under their watch, they squandered a great squad and allowed Real Madrid to become kings of Europe in football and also in basketball. The idea of success now over a viable long term plan has failed and the right decisions need to be made this summer. The basketball team is already in shambles and we cannot afford to waste the talents of Messi, Iniesta, Pique, Luis Suarez and Neymar by not surrounding them with better players and a better manager.

Cillessen’s Questionable move to Barça.

Many were surprised when Barça decided to sign Jasper Cillessen from Ajax Amsterdam this most recent summer transfer window. The Oranje keeper went from a team that recently struggled to achieve success both on the domestic and European stage, to a team that is expected to win every possible trophy. Although Cillessen is upgrading the quality of his team, is this move a downgrade for his career?

• By Ibrahim Ayyub
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When FC Barcelona was forced to decide between keeping the Chilean Claudio Bravo or the German Marc-André ter Stegen, the club decided to bank on the German as their keeper for the future. Bravo was in his thirties while ter Stegen is still a young pup in his early twenties. It was the right move for the club to cash in on Bravo by selling him to Manchester City since they had their goalkeeper of the future. However, eyebrows were raised when Jasper Cillessen was rumored to be Bravo’s replacement instead of some aging veteran.

Barça have a history of signing Dutch players from the days of Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens back in the mid 70’s to the vast number of players in the 90’s and this century. One of the players signed during the 90’s was Dutch goalkeeper Ruud Hesp. He was the starting goalkeeper when Louis van Gaal was in charge as Barça captured back to back league titles. So it is not unchartered territory for Cillessen as he begins a new chapter in his career as a Barça goalkeeper.

Sadly, the contrast of quality between Ajax Amsterdam and FC Barcelona is not debatable. Cillessen leaves a club that is going through tough times as they usher in a new era now that Frank de Boer is no longer the manager. Furthermore, Cillessen also endured two disappointing years for both club and country where his performances left a lot to be desired. Of course, an argument could be made that the supporting players in front of him were not blameless either.

Nonetheless, when Cillessen joins his new Barça teammates for a training session at Ciutat Esportiva, he will undoubtedly be surrounded by a better supporting class consisting of world-class players. Unlike Ajax, he will have better defenders playing in front of him and other players that are game changers. His usual training session will consist of facing superb players such as Iniesta, Rakitic, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez that will no doubt test him and, hopefully, help him become a better player.

However, this move seems puzzling since Cillessen is signed to be ter Stegen’s backup. In Spain, the backup mainly features in the Spanish cup, Copa del Rey. The only way the backup goalkeeper will play in the league or the Champions League will be if the starter is injured or is performing poorly. Right now, ter Stegen is the starting goalkeeper for Barça in both the Spanish league and the Champions League. Therefore, Cillessen is expected to start the Copa del Rey matches, which amounts to 9 matches a year if Barça reach the final.

It is doubtful that Barça manager Luis Enrique will repeat what he did the last two seasons when Bravo featured strictly in the Spanish league while ter Stegen featured in Copa del Rey and Champions League. This time around, the manager plans on using ter Stegen for the Spanish league and Champions League, which is why Bravo asked to be sold. Both goalkeepers wanted to be the league starters, and the club opted for youth.

Cillessen was the starting goalkeeper for the Oranje during World Cup 2014, but it is hard to believe that this move to Barcelona will ensure he remains first choice. Oranje manager Danny Blind recently relegated Cillessen to the bench and started Jeroen Zoet in Holland’s most recent matches against Greece and Sweden. Was the decision made because of Cillessen’s recent poor form or with an eye to the future? Ultimately, Cillessen’s chances of being the Oranje starting goalkeeper seem slim if he is going to be sitting on the Barça bench for the majority of the season.

The last three seasons, Cillessen made 33, 42, and 44 appearances for Ajax in the Eredivisie and in European Competition. He will be lucky if he manages to make 10-15 appearances for Barça this season. Perhaps Luis Enrique will surprise us and use Cillessen more but for the moment, Cillessen is there in case of an emergency. As this is being published, ter Stegen has suffered a knee injury that will see him miss two weeks. Thus, Cillessen will now get to start in two league matches and one Champions League match.

Barça did the right thing in signing Cillessen as a security blanket for ter Stegen. He has the right pedigree for the position. However, Cillessen is too young to be a security blanket when he can be a starter elsewhere. Time will tell how this move works for Cillessen and his future. He should make the most of this recent opportunity, and also his time with Barça. Yet, he should also keep his options open for his future and seek an exit if a better opportunity presents itself.