It may not be the news that Liverpool fans were hoping to hear just before the start of the Christmas season, but reports in Spain have stated that Brazilian play-maker Philippe Coutinho may join Spanish giants Barcelona in the winter transfer window. However, Liverpool may still have to put up a huge fight to keep hold of their superstar from the hands of Barcelona.
The Anfield faithful may have to hold their breath once again as the winter transfer window begins to keep their stars from leaving the club. And most importantly it is Coutinho that they are worried about after the saga from the summer when the former Inter Milan winger handed in his transfer request when the Catalonian club came calling. Liverpool had to reject three offers from Barcelona each higher than the previous which showed their interest in the midfielder. The last bid came close to €150m but the Merseyside club was adamant that their superstar was going nowhere.
Coutinho has been one of Liverpool’s most influential players over the past few seasons and has produced some unbelievable performances along this season as well. At 25, Coutinho is still relatively young and still has a long way to go in his career but the maestro was worried that the opportunity was a once in a lifetime move for one of the best clubs in Europe.
Since arriving at Anfield in 2013, for a fee of just £8.5m, Coutinho has made 149 appearances for the Reds in the Premier League and has scored 39 times for them. His dribbling skills are one of the many high-quality traits that he possesses. Coutinho is blessed with immense talent and vision on the pitch as well; he is widely regarded as one of the best play-makers of this generation. Known also as the ‘little magician’, Coutinho has an incredible right-foot and can score the screamers from long ranges as well.
Further, Coutinho has linked up brilliantly with the Liverpool front-line which boasts the ability of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino which makes the Reds one of the most feared attacking units in the Premier League.
However, the saga which has linked Coutinho to Barcelona is back again and this time Barcelona are willing to offer Liverpool £133m to lure him to the Camp Nou. And reportedly Coutinho has agreed to the wages that are being offered by the Catalonian club which is estimated to be around £200,000 a week. Barcelona is looking to replace their aging midfield talisman Andreas Iniesta, who is currently finding it rather difficult to play the entire 90 minutes week in and week out. And Coutinho could be a more than a useful player to replace the Spanish veteran.
Barcelona did break their record signing when they recruited Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in the summer after another Brazilian superstar Neymar left the club for Paris Saint-Germain.
Despite that, Coutinho would be unable to play in the Champions League for Barca as he has already represented the Reds this season. Let’s see whether that has an impact on this deal or not.
