World Cup 2018: Top Barcelona players who could return as champions

Modified May 31, 2018 10:46 GMT

Barcelona v Real Sociedad - La Liga — Barcelona won the La Liga title with ease

#1 Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho (Brazil)

England v Brazil - Bobby Moore Fund International - Wembley Stadium — Coutinho and Paulinho in Brazil training

These 2 signings from the 2017/18 season have proven with their performances that they are worthwhile additions to the legendary club. Paulinho's signing was met with contempt at first as he was joining from the Chinese Super League. However, he has wound them all up by putting in quality shifts day in and day out.

Paulinho is different from most Barcelona midfielders. He is a box to box midfielder who puts his strength and tenacity to good use. The Brazilian also adds a certain dynamism to the midfield which has often caught oppositions off guard and help churn out results for the Cules.

Philippe Coutinho was brought in for a record sum of money from Liverpool in the January transfer window. He has gone on to prove that he is a perfect fit for Barcelona with his silky dribbling skills, excellent playmaking skills and technical proficiency.

Coutinho and Paulinho are as important to the Brazilian team as they are to Barcelona. In fact, this is the strongest the Brazil team has looked for a long time. With the likes of Neymar, Firmino, Marcelo, Douglas Costa, Willian and Coutinho in their ranks, Brazil are surely going to be one of the most exciting teams to watch this season.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shruti Sadbhav