Philippe Coutinho not living up to the hype one year on from £145m move to Barcelona from Liverpool
ONE year on from Philippe Coutinho's £145million move from Liverpool, and the Brazilian is really not living up to the hype at Barcelona.
The "Little Magician", 26, became the third-most expensive player on the planet on this day in 2018, signed as the long-term replacement for Andres Iniesta.
However, Coutinho has failed to have the sort of impact he managed at Liverpool and has even been dumped to the bench by Ernesto Valverde.
With Barca experimenting with both 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 formations, Coutinho has not started any of the last three games.
Ousmane Dembele and Arturo Vidal have been preferred to the former Reds ace with his last start coming against lowly Rayo Vallecano.
That day, with Barcelona 2-1 down, Coutinho was hauled off and replaced by Dembele - Barcelona's second-most expensive signing ever at £135.6m.
The France star went on to score as Barca snatched a dramatic 3-2 win - with Coutinho reduced to cameo appearances off the bench ever since.
Meanwhile, since he left Anfield, Liverpool have gone from strength-to-strength, using some of the Coutinho windfall to sign Virgil van Dijk.
The Reds then reached the Champions League final, made major improvements to the squad in the summer, including the signings of Alisson and Xherdan Shaqiri, and now sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League.
In his first year at the Nou Camp, 45-cap Brazil international Coutinho has made 44 appearances in all competitions, scoring 15 and adding ten assists.
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However, the overriding feeling amongst the Barcelona faithful is that he could - and should - be doing much more, especially given his hefty price-tag.
In fact, the stats suggest he's miles off the pace - ranking dead last in almost every category against team-mates Dembele, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.
He's last in terms of goals and assists, while performing poorly in total shots and even chances created - all areas he excelled in at Liverpool.
Looking at the numbers from his final 12 months at Liverpool compared to his first year at the Nou Camp and it's a similar trend.
His numbers are all down including goals, assists, shots taken, chances created - with only his passing seemingly taking a minor boost.
So while Coutinho claimed it was always his dream to play for Barcelona, perhaps it's turned more into a nightmare for the Little Magician.