Bundesliga legend Ze Roberto has praised his former club Bayern Munich for the loan acquisition of attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona, saying that his fellow Brazilian has all the ingredients to light up the German top flight with the record champions.

Speaking exclusively to bundesliga.com, the ex-Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern and Hamburg midfielder stressed that the 27-year-old Coutinho is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Bavarians, who only reached the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League last term and are facing stiffer competition from a resurgent Borussia Dortmund on the domestic front.

"For me, Bayern have made a top signing!" said the 45-year-old, who now works as a technical advisor to Brazilian champions Palmeiras. "Bayern needed to rebuild their squad, and given that they want to go far in the Champions League this season, they had to bring in world-class players. Coutinho fits the bill perfectly. He'll also help Bayern a lot in the battle for the Bundesliga, which should be fantastic this year because Dortmund are strong – they've brought in good reinforcements and have a team that will fight as hard as last year."

Watch: Coutinho's busy first day at Bayern Munich

Coutinho will be the 13th Brazilian to shrug on the famous red jersey of the 28-time Bundesliga champions, and Niko Kovac will no doubt be hoping that he proves a lucky charm. The Rio de Janeiro native follows in the footsteps of Bernardo, Mazinho, Jorginho, Giovane Elber, Paulo Sergio, Lucio, Breno, Luiz Gustavo, Rafinha, Dante, Douglas Costa and of course Ze Roberto himself, who enjoyed two successful stints with Bayern in the 2000s. After several close shaves with Leverkusen, he landed four Bundesliga and DFB Cup doubles with the Bavarians, making a total of 248 appearances for the club.

"Bayern is a club with a tradition of signing Brazilian players," Ze Roberto acknowledged. "And many of them have enjoyed great success with the club. That's exactly what they were looking for here: a player with quality and international experience who can help the club in what is going to be a crucial season. Coutinho is going to bring a huge amount of quality to Bayern. He's technical, very intelligent, and can perform a number of roles within different tactical systems. I'm sure he's going to be a huge asset to the team."

During a professional career that spanned over 20 years – from Brazil to Real Madrid to the Bundesliga and back to Brazil, via Uruguay and Qatar – Ze Roberto was renowned for his remarkable versatility, playing anywhere in defensive, central and attacking midfield or up the left flank. He is therefore well-placed to judge Coutinho's similarly chameleon-like abilities to fit into his surroundings, wherever Kovac may decide to deploy him.

Ze Roberto, who also won four German League Cups with Bayern, scored 20 goals for the club and set up around three times as many. - 2008 Getty Images

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"I think he will play in the position he likes best, behind the strikers with the freedom to push up and make the most of his excellent long-range shooting," Ze Roberto predicted. "He's comfortable playing in two or three different positions, in the centre or out on the left wing, as he does for Brazil depending on whether Neymar is there or not. Bayern have plenty of top players but not all of them boast Coutinho's versatility. He'll give his coach the possibility of adapting his tactical systems to different opponents."

Like many Bayern fans, Ze Roberto is also salivating at the prospect of seeing the technically gifted Coutinho link up with another twinkle-toed Bavarian: Spain midfielder Thiago, whose father Mazinho (no relation to the former Bayern forward) won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil in 1994, a year before Ze Roberto won the first of his 84 caps with the Selecao.

"The partnership with Thiago will be fascinating, and should bring a great deal of quality to Bayern," Ze Roberto declared. "They're both very smart and technical. When you have two players of that quality, who have just the right amount of similarities and differences, it raises the level of the whole team, and enables the two players to progress together."

Ze Roberto expects sparks to fly if Thiago (l.) and Coutinho (r.) are paired in the Bayern Munich midfield. - imago images / Sven Simon

Ze Roberto concluded by suggesting that if all goes well for Coutinho at the Allianz Arena, he should be able to rediscover the form that made him such a fearsome prospect at Liverpool between 2013 and 2018 – form which has been somewhat harder to come by since his big-money move to Barcelona at the start of last year.

"This is a great opportunity for Coutinho to play at the same level that he did in Liverpool," said the man who has the fifth-most Bundesliga appearances (336) of any non-German player. "Bayern have a strong team with some top young players, and I think they've got a good chance of having a great season. But for Coutinho to find his Liverpool form, he has to be given freedom to operate in his favourite part of the pitch.

"That means not just rigidly following tactical orders, but having the freedom to enjoy his football, to do things like shooting from distance and linking up with the strikers. Defending is important but when you have a player like Coutinho, you have to give him freedom, and I think he'll get it at Bayern. It'll be important for him and for the team, because that means he'll be happy and enjoy his football."

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