4 reasons why Philippe Coutinho is struggling at Barcelona at the moment

#1 The resurgence of Dembele

FC Barcelona v RC Celta de Vigo - La Liga

Barcelona's former record signing. Dembele was signed in the summer of 2017 as the direct replacement for Neymar having impressed significantly for Dortmund in the Bundesliga in his sole season there.

It was always going to be a tough call to fill in the boots of the Brazilian, much less when you're so young and at such a price tag and this added to the fact that Dembele suffered a horrific injury just months into his Barca sojourn meant that fans of the Catalan giants did not get to see the best of the Frenchman in his debut season.

The controversial arrival of Malcom from Bordeaux in the summer further increased the speculation that Dembele was on his way out, but the 21-year-old stayed on, determined to fight for his Barcelona future.

The season began well enough for him, with him netting the winner in the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla, as well as scoring in three consecutive La Liga matches and netting a worldie in the 4-0 trouncing of PSV in the UCL.

However, it soon went downhill for Dembele as he faced accusations of indiscipline and received multiple fines for either not turning up for training or appearing late, with teammates and coaches weighing in on his poor dietary choices as well as his disciplinary issues.

In a remarkable turn of events, Dembele's performances have improved since then, scoring a vital equalizer at the death in a crunch La Liga clash away to Atletico while also scoring a beautiful solo goal in the 1-1 UCL draw with Tottenham.

His form over the last few weeks have been too good to ignore, such that Ernersto Valverde has thrust him into the starting lineup, ditching his preferred 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-3 which could accommodate Dembele on the left-flank.

The result of this switch has been that Coutinho was the player sacrificed for Dembele, with the Brazilian being the player called upon to replace the Frenchman in the dying embers of the game and for as long as Dembele continues with his wonderful trajectory, Coutinho might continue to find himself out of the starting lineup.