in 16/17 his form definitely did drop and there was many instances where he held onto the ball for way too long, that is without question. However during 14/15 he was incredible and that period of 15/16 when Messi was out he reached an incredible level that I'd only seen from Messi, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo in an attacking sense during my time following Barca.
Sure, but in 16/17 he was an incredible creator for the team. Every two games he'd have a moment where he would cut through the opposition from midfield to the final third with his speed and dribbling. He wasn't as effective as he was in his two previous seasons, but he still scored about 25~ goals in all competitor and was one of Europes best creators and dribblers. He wasn't the issue in our team.
Like seriously, after 400m~ euros spent on several players and still being unable to recreate the threat Neymar posed in the left wing, you think we'd appreciate Neymar's tenure a bit more.
That combination of dribbling, speed, and passing probably won't be seen around in our left wing for at least the next half decade.