‘I can’t see why Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Griezmann & Dembele can’t be together’

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While there are many noises being made that Neymar and Antoine Griezmann are Barcelona-bound, there are also doubts as to how it would work on the pitch if both forward do move to the Camp Nou.

How would they operate alongside Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi in the same squad?

These are the sort of questions that have been posed to famous former Barcelona players and people in the inner circle of the Blaugrana, and views are unsurprisingly mixed.

Former Barcelona striker Hristo Stoichkov reckons that it can be done.

“I can’t see any reason why Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Griezmann and [Ousmane] Dembele can’t be together” said the Bulgarian.

“Barcelona always sign the best players so that they have to fight for a place on the team sheet.

“And you could play four of the them at the same time.”

For Pichi Alonso, however, things are no as clear and he believes Ernesto Valverde may struggle to accommodate them all.

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“It’s not easy to fit four forwards in any team,” said the former striker.

“Neymar and Griezmann are not compatible, I mean not at all.

“I mean one is a dribbler, one is a finisher.

“The risk of unbalancing the team is pretty significant.”

Josep Maria Minguella also spoke about Griezmann’s style.

“It’s more difficult to place Griezmann on the pitch,” the former Barcelona presidential candidate said.

“As much as he is energetic and alive, he has his limitations.

“He needs a reference point at striker and Messi already has this role, and nobody would move him.

“So he’d have to go to the wing like Arda Turan did and would get bored.

“I wouldn’t bring either of them and I’d look for players with different characteristics who could come with a cool head.”

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