Philippe Coutinho: Barcelona's £100m misfit who finds himself an unwanted man

In one respect, Philippe Coutinho’s status is secure. In another, it is rather less so.

The probable collapse of the transfer market means he is destined to remain one of the most expensive footballers in history for years.

In another, he is in limbo, part of a rare breed: the £100 million (Dh459.2m) misfit.

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His ranks among the most glamorous CVs around – Inter Milan, Liverpool, Barcelona, Bayern Munich – but it was expanded because his dream move backfired.

Barcelona's record buy underwhelmed. He was loaned out to Bayern, where his performances were respectable rather than remarkable and, even before the contraction in football finances, there was little possibility of a permanent deal.

Links with Chelsea came recently but even with the impending departures of Pedro and Willian, the arranged arrival of Hakim Ziyech from Ajax means one winger is costing them money; with Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason Mount on the books, they may not need another, and certainly not at the price touted this week, of £87m.

Barcelona paid a fee rising to £142m for Coutinho in 2018. They were never going to recoup all of that. Now it is a question of how great a hit they take.

In a depressed market, shrouded by uncertainty, with the probability that football revenues will decrease if games are played without fans in the foreseeable future, would anyone realistically pay £50m? And that is even before factoring in Coutinho’s age – 28 in June – and commensurate diminishing resale value.

If Barcelona keep him, as has been suggested, it will be from a position of weakness; he will be impossible to offload for a satisfactory fee.

His move represented a misjudgement on all parts. Barcelona were desperate for a marquee buy after losing Neymar and alighted on another Brazilian.

Coutinho was seen in some circles as a long-term replacement for Andres Iniesta, yet that strange assumption underlined the difficulties of defining an unusual player.

Iniesta was the metronome, the precise passer. Coutinho is involved less but has a capacity to deliver the spectacular goal in a way the Spaniard rarely did.

He was an imperfect fit for both the spots on the left of midfield and the front three in Barcelona’s 4-3-3.

That Antoine Griezmann, another £100m man, has spent much of this season as Barcelona’s left-sided forward illustrated that they gave up on Coutinho and bought a successor before even selling him.

Not that Griezmann, much more of a striker, is an identikit player either. Perhaps no one is; Coutinho is not a pure No 10 or a winger.

Maybe, in old-fashioned terminology, he would be a right-footed inside left, which in part explains why he flourished when Brendan Rodgers played 3-4-2-1, but it raises the question of where to field him.

For Barcelona, the bitter irony should be that they funded the improvement of Liverpool, the team who eviscerated and embarrassed them 4-0 in the Champions League semi-finals a year ago, by stripping them of Coutinho.

There is a temptation to paint him as the 21st-century Pete Best, the man who left a Liverpudlian outfit before world domination followed, but there is a difference: there was no equivalent of Ringo Starr.

Apart from a flirtation with Nabil Fekir, Liverpool never tried to sign anyone remotely similar.

Jurgen Klopp conjured magical moments from Coutinho, but he was not a true Klopp player, as the way the German doubled down on his blueprint with midfield workhorses in the subsequent two years showed.

But as Coutinho finds himself at a crossroads, it raises the question of whose sort of player he actually is. A deluxe talent is bracketed among the costliest footballers ever but he feels unwanted and homeless.

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Honeymoonish

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In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff

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Dubai Rugby Sevens

November 30, December 1-2
International Vets
Christina Noble Children’s Foundation fixtures

Thursday, November 30:

10.20am, Pitch 3, v 100 World Legends Project
1.20pm, Pitch 4, v Malta Marauders

Friday, December 1:

9am, Pitch 4, v SBA Pirates

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills