Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen believes the side are now stronger since Neymar’s exit to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
The Brazilian forward left the Camp Nou in a world record €222m deal last summer, but Barca remain unbeaten at the top of La Liga and in the Copa del Rey final this season.
“You can’t explain the quality of Neymar, because he was so important to us as a person and as a footballer” Ter Stegen told an interview with ESPN.
“Now, everyone needs to understand what he did because maybe he wants to win something else, also personally. His decision only he knows but in the end we had to compensate all this and this is not easy because he had so much quality, but we did it in a different way and now we have a very, very strong team.
“I think we've got some new players who have made us even stronger and hopefully they feel good and comfortable in the team and they adapt very fast. But at the same time we want to give them the time, Dembele didn't play very often because he was injured [and] Coutinho just came.
“We always need to give them time and be patient because they are young and they have some great years ahead.”
