EV is either stupid af or a slave to the seniors, i think it could be a mixture of both but looking at his time in Bilbao, more the latter.
in defence of Ernie, it seems the board don't do well consulting him on who they buy. I doubt Coutinho was on EVs wishlist and Malcom we know certainly wasnt. the board can pull off these 'exciting' transfers but they leave the manager trying to fit them all in a line up/formation that CANNOT be changed because we have entitled players Messi-Suarez who must play every game they are available despite age/needing rest.
EV wanted Willian and yes hes not Barca quality but the board have to realize the manager is the one observing the team so he should know best regarding what we actually need. now we are left with Messi at RW, Dembele's favoured position is RW, Malcom prefers RW and no natural LW.. so we have to waste Dembele there, Willian atleast imo would of been more capable of playing LW than say Coutinho or Malcom.
the result in all this is 160mil Coutinho on the bench, 120mil Dembele not playing in his favoured position and Messi a false RW all over the pitch. the right side with Bob has no natural RB with no support from a RW cause Messi is absent. Semedo was getting slated for passing back and not attacking enough until we saw him on that rightside combo with Dembele at RW.