Philippe Coutinho

[Cicero]

15 minutes ago, José said:

Thats a poor way of excusing the inconsistency of the golden generation. ANY player even pele or Maradona would of had a hard time keeping up with one of the greatest La Masia dependent teams ñ. The fact that cristiano didn’t shy away from the challenge and was able to be successful to an extent versus that Barcelona team who was already steam rolling before cr7 arrived highlights why cr7 is a living legend 

Right it was all Ronaldo. Had nothing to do with the billions Real spent just to catch up with that Barca team 

[Pep Talk]

7 hours ago, Harry said:

Why would anyone take that deal. And why would neymar go back? Surely his next destination is real Madrid or much less likely man city?

Because all the rumours are net art wants to go back to Barca nd at least PSG get a quailty player back and cash...seems like a good deal if you have a player who wants out

[The Artful Dodger]

It's got to be worst signing of all time? 142 million...

[Carnivore Chris]

No player in the world is worth 150 million apart from one and he's already at the club and has been for 20 years.

 

As for Coutinho's performances, he did well last season when he signed in January until the end of the campaign and started this season in top form, being one of the first names on the team sheet every week, although since sustaining the hamstring injury in November, he has struggled to force his way back into the sid, a lot of that being down to the fantastic performances of Dembele, who was a player that was being written off himself not so long ago. It's about himself now impressing when given chances, which he unfortunately didn't do yesterday, although I wouldn't completely write him off as he's not been poor during the whole of his spell and it has in fact only been recently where his performances have dropped.

For me, the best Coutinho this season was when he played more as an attacking midfielder with a front 3 of Messi, Suarez and Dembele. That worked brilliantly at the start of the season and I was always unsure on why Valverde changed things around that point.

One criticism of him, even when at his best, is that he takes too many long shots when a pass would be a far better option.

[Spike]

On 13/01/2019 at 03:51, The Artful Dodger said:

Worse than Torres, Carroll? Has there ever been a worse signing?

At least Torres; out of the three, was present during a period of cup success for his club. While he was by no means fantastic, he did have several moments of importance to the club’s success. Transfer fee and expectations aside, Torres was okay for Chelsea; 45 goals and three cups is at least something tangible.

[Machado]

6 hours ago, The Rebel CRS said:

No player in the world is worth 150 million apart from one and he's already at the club and has been for 20 years.

I'd say Harry Kane is. I'd pay all that for him. It's basically the end of an era for Spurs if he leaves them... similar to Messi, that's how much impact he's got there.

I'm not comparing the two! (just in case)

[Pep Talk]

Would you pay £350 million for Kane? 

 

Thays seems to be his market value from spurs 

[Harry]

2 hours ago, Pep Talk said:

Would you pay £350 million for Kane? 

 

Thays seems to be his market value from spurs 

You'd be better to just buy 3-4 lower level EPL clubs for that price

[Carnivore Chris]

19 hours ago, Machado said:

I'd say Harry Kane is. I'd pay all that for him. It's basically the end of an era for Spurs if he leaves them... similar to Messi, that's how much impact he's got there.

I'm not comparing the two! (just in case)

Well if I was the owner of a club it in today's market I would pay it as you don't get any better number 9s than Harry Kane of his age group, but in reality I wouldn't say anyone should be worth that amount when you think deeply about it, including even Messi. 150 million could pretty much feed a small poor country and when you look at it in that perspective you realise that no man should really be bought for that amount. It is what it is though I suppose and it's just the way football is now.