As you’ll know, Marca are very much the mouthpiece of Real Madrid, so we’d suggest this report is aimed at unsettling Los Blancos’ biggest rivals, more than anything.
Especially when you consider Barca recently beat Real 5-1, are top of La Liga and their Champions League group – all without the aid of currently injured Lionel Messi…
But still – it’s fairly interesting nonetheless!
Marca are claiming that Coutinho is ‘not meeting expectations’ since his £142m move. While they accept he’s scored important goals (he has five this season in 15 games), they believe he too often goes missing in matches and lacks consistency of performance.
SEE MORE:
Balague: Why Coutinho is struggling at Barca & did better at Liverpool
Since his arrival, Barca have won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, so it’s not like his club are in any kind of crisis.
Still, when you cost £142m, there’s an expectation of genuine greatness, week in, week out.
In truth, Liverpool miss Coutinho’s creativity and penchant for genius, even if we’re coping without him and benefited enormously from his transfer fee.
We spent the money very wisely, on Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, but are still lacking a visionary midfielder who can dribble, create and go past opponents at will.
Hopefully Naby Keita can eventually fill this role once he gets up to speed and finds full fitness.