Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen celebrates scoring their second goal Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
At
least he looked the part. Light shirt, dark chinos and sharp trainers,
Ernesto Valverde is already taking cues from his predecessor at
Barcelona, Luis Enrique, but as he watched on from the Santiago Bernabeu
touchline on Wednesday evening there was very little to suggest the
Catalans are set for a similar era of success under their new manager.
Indeed,
Valverde already has the feeling of Barca’s very own David Moyes,
struggling to evolve and adapt a team that had won it all before his
arrival. Much of his focus on Wednesday, having watched Real Madrid toy
with his Barcelona side in a 5-1 aggregate win, will have fallen on the
left side of the front three. That is now known as the Neymar hole.
This
is where the recently departed Brazilian was so important to the
Catalans, stretching the pitch, creating space for Lionel Messi, Luis
Suarez and others through the middle. If Barca are to stick with the
same ideology and strategy, they need a direct replacement, someone to
perform the same role. Against Real Madrid, Valverde tried both Andre
Gomes and Gerard Deulofeu there. The final scoreline tells you how
successful those experiments were.
And
so the transfer market, it is hoped, will provide the answer, although a
scattergun approach has been adopted in the post-Neymar age. If
Valverde is Barcelona’s Moyes, then Philippe Coutinho is their Juan
Mata. Just as Man Utd signed the Chelsea playmaker for a club record
fee, purely to save face as much as anything else, Coutinho is almost
certain to pitch up at Camp Nou as something of a stylistic misfit.
It’s
not that Coutinho is a bad player, far from it. He’s one of the most
exhilarating talents in the Premier League, befitting of the sort of
stage Barcelona can offer him. But he’s not the man to replace Neymar,
to hug the touchline on the left wing. If anything, he is the heir to
Andres Iniesta, but does Valverde see him as that?
Replacing
Neymar is, of course, a near impossible task. The Brazilian’s influence
at Camp Nou was significant, getting the best out of those around him
while also carrying a goal threat of his own. There are few, if any,
players available on the market who fit that bill. But they can do
better than Coutinho. Barca should be looking to Christian Eriksen.
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