Neymar: Coutinho suits Barca

Rumours of a move for Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho (appearing on talksport.com), who could be an ideal replacement for both Rafinha and Pedro, have accelerated with news that Neymar thinks his Brazilian counterpart would fit into Barcelona’s philosophy. Neymar’s recent comments hailing Philippe Coutinho as a player he would love to be playing alongside at Barcelona have prompted some anxious expressions among Kopites. “He told me to work the most in training and in matches, to be better every day”, he recalled. “He’s a great player and he has Barcelona’s style”, he added, as memories came flooding back of the likes of Gerard Pique openly flirting with then Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas for about five years. Coutinho has Barcelona’s style in his DNA. However, as witnessed with the £75m ($116m) deal that took Suarez to Barcelona, the Catalan giants are quite a hard proposition to resist when not operating under a transfer embargo.

His tenacity, versatility, flair, creativity and new-found finishing ability make him a well-rounded player primed for elite competition.

Neymar went on to discuss the challenges that this season will pose as they try to defend all three titles while trying to win their fifth title in the Club World Cup in December.

“So, this season I want to be better and to score more to help my teammates and the team”.

Neymar was sent off in the Copa América fixture with Colombia, and was eventually banned for four games by CONMEBOL. What I did was dumb and I was wrong. “I learned a lot from it. I will strive hard for it to not happen again”.