Former Barcelona ace Rivaldo shared a few insights on Los Culés recent transfer activity. First, he spoke about Neymar's decision on whether to join Real Madrid, Barcelona or Juventus, and then, he took time to give an inside look at why Philippe Coutinho ended up being a flop at Camp Nou.
According to Rivaldo's words to betfair.com, his compatriot's failure to impress should be pinned on one man: Lionel Messi. The former Ballon D'Or winner revealed that Messi's shadow usually is enough to catch players off balance, and he believes that Coutinho suffered while playing under Messi's wing.
"It's never easy to find your space in a team where Lionel Messi constantly takes all the credit and responsibility. I always believed that Philippe Coutinho had the ability to success at Barcelona, but things were taking too much time and both parties agreed on a transfer to Bayern Munich," Rivaldo said.
The former Milan ace admitted that playing alongside Messi can't be easy, which speaks volumes about Coutinho's status as a top-notch player.
"There are few players in the world capable of reaching such situation and imposing themselves, and maybe Coutinho didn't have enough patience to find his spot in the team," the 47-year-old added.
The Brazilian ace won two La Liga and one Copa del Rey trophies with Los culés.
Rivaldo had high hopes for Coutinho as a Barcelona player, especially due to the massive amount of money Los Culés paid for his services.
"I'm a little disappointed about his failure in gaining a regular place in the first team, but perhaps he was no longer confident about it and unhappy, so he opted for a move to another big club trying to finally recover his best football from his time at Liverpool," Rivaldo added.
