Ernesto Valverde planning a big tactical change for next season | OneFootball

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde is considering returning to a 4-3-3 formation next season.

Valverde’s first season in charge saw Barcelona win LaLiga by playing a narrow shape closer to a 4-4-2 but Catalan newspaper Sport say he will return to the club’s roots for the new campaign.

Last summer saw the late sale of Neymar and a Supercopa humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid, with Valverde then choosing a steadier formation to balance the team.

Now, though, there is more time to prepare. The Spaniard will look to bed January signing Philippe Coutinho into his regular line-up, with the Brazilian able to play wide or in the central midfield role previously occupied by club legend Andrés Iniesta.

A return to a front three would also create an opening for Ousmane Dembélé. The World Cup winner completed a €147m move from Borussia Dortmund last summer but struggled to find a place in the side during a campaign riddled by injuries.

Valverde was criticised in some quarters last season after failing to reach the Champions League semi-finals and playing a style more rigid than Barcelona fans have come accustomed to. Having won LaLiga last season under trying circumstances, few can say he didn’t deliver. Nonetheless, the upcoming campaign will see greater pressure on him to deliver a style closer to the club’s identity.

The sale of box-to-box midfielder will help but finding a way to successfully integrate Coutinho and Dembélé without damaging the performances of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez will be a big test.