The entire footballing world was rocked when Neymar completed a world-record £200 million transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.

The forward scored 105 goals for Barca in his four-year stay at the club and was one third of an exceptional attacking trio alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

As you’d expect, the Catalan giants are now making major moves to find his replacement, and the two players they’ve tried to sign thus far are Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho.

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Neymar vs Coutinho and Dembele

Liverpool rejected a £90 million bid, Borussia Dortmund claim Barca didn’t meet their valuation, but can either of them fully fill Neymar’s boots were they to move to the Nou Camp?

We’ve decided to answer that exact question by comparing the statistics of the three stars during the 2016-17 campaign in some key areas. Let’s take a look.

Coutinho was out for over six weeks due to an ankle injury but still made 36 appearances in total, with Neymar making 45 and Dembele playing a whopping 49 games.

Goals

For all his skill and natural ability, the 20-year-old winger only scored six times in the Bundesliga, whereas Coutinho and Neymar managed to score 13 each in their respective leagues.

In all competitions, however, it’s Neymar who comes out on top, having registered 20 goals, with Coutinho six behind on 14 and Dembele further back on ten.

Assists

Coutinho is regarded as one of the most creative players in Europe, but the ex-Inter Milan man surprisingly ranks lowest in terms of assists, with a tally of eight.

Dembele provided more than double that on 20, but he was just pipped by Neymar, who recorded 21 assists for Barcelona (including eight in the Champions League).

Given that Coutinho wasn’t involved in European competition, the rest of the stats used are solely from domestic leagues (La Liga, Premier League, Bundesliga), courtesy of Squawka’s comparison matrix.

Creativity

Neymar created 2.97 chances per match on average, marginally more than his Brazil teammate (2.10) and French international Dembele (1.97).

PSG’s new number ten was also superior in terms of playing key passes, averaging 2.63 every game (1.87 for Coutinho and 1.59 for Dembele).

Dribbling effectiveness

Neymar is well known for his sometimes outrageous trickery whilst dribbling, so it’s no surprise to see that he averaged 5.53 successful take-ons per game.

That figure was much better than both Dembele (3.28) and Coutinho (2.29), but it was actually the Liverpool star who was the most effective at beating his man.

The 25-year-old playmaker boasted a 63.96% take-on success rate, compared to 61.48% for Neymar and 57.38% for Ousmane.

Passing

You may not think that passing is the most important thing for an attacker, but it is a good sign of how involved they are throughout the 90 minutes.

Barca might not have won the league last term, but they dominate possession pretty much every time they play, and Neymar played an impressive 49.57 passes per match.

Coutinho is also integral to Liverpool’s build-up play, averaging 44.71 passes per game, however Dembele only managed a figure of 23.37 in this stat.

With regards to passing accuracy, Coutinho led the way, producing a stunning pass completion rate of 84% (76% for Neymar and 66% for Dembele).

Shooting accuracy

Neymar’s average of 3.5 shots per match was slightly better than Coutinho’s 3.42, with Dortmund’s Dembele a fairly long way behind on 1.72.

That said, it was Coutinho who hit the target more often on average, with a shot accuracy of 55%, compared to 51% and 48% for Neymar and Dembele respectively.

In front of goal, Neymar missed nine clear chances to score in the 2016-17 domestic campaign, in comparison to four big chances missed by Coutinho and just two for Dembele.

Can Coutinho or Dembele replace Neymar?

Of the 11 categories compared, Neymar was the best in seven of them, underlining just how far ahead he is of Coutinho and Dembele right now.

The good news for Barca is that Dembele is just 20, and not only is Coutinho the same age as Neymar, but he can play in a midfield three, from the left, and he’s submitted a transfer request.

That said, the statistics potentially suggest that the European heavyweights may have to sign both Coutinho and Dembele in order to fill the massive void left by Neymar’s world-record move to Paris.

What do YOU make of these stats? Do YOU think either Coutinho or Dembele could replace Neymar at Barca? Leave YOUR opinion in the comments box below!