Pundit and former Premier League player Gabriel Agbonlahor believes Liverpool should bring Philippe Coutinho back to Anfield, but would probably tell the Brazilian he must apologise for the way he left the club.
Speaking on Stadium Astro, as cited by TEAMTalk, Agbonlahor said: “For me, I’d go out there and get Coutinho back.”
“I’d probably say, ‘you have to apologise for the way you left, but come back’.”
“For me, he is what Liverpool are missing in there. You can even play Coutinho where [Roberto] Firmino plays if Firmino isn’t doing it. The way Firmino plays, it looks like he is just told by [Sadio] Mane and [Mohamed] Salah: ‘We are having the shots’.”
TIF Thoughts…
Coutinho left Anfield in January 2018 to sign for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth £130.5m (as per Transfermarkt.co.uk).
Since leaving the Merseyside club, it’s safe to say things haven’t gone to plan for the 28-year-old, who is valued at £50.4 million (as per Transfermarkt). The Catalan giants made the attacking midfielder available for loan at the start of the 2019/20 campaign and despite having spent the season at Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga club has decided against taking up their option to buy the player.
Would you like to see Coutinho return to Anfield?
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According to Transfermarkt.co.uk, the player still maintains a relatively high value despite starting just 45% of the time for Bayern in the Bundesliga.
His average performance rating in the German top flight was 7.22/10 this season (via WhoScored.com), which evidences that despite being out of favour, the former Inter man has still performed at a fairly consistent level.
However, in our opinion, a return to Anfield for the playmaker feels unlikely.