LFC Daytrippers panellist Grizz Khan believes the Brazilian international Philippe Coutinho is desperate to return to Anfield.
The 28-year-old joined Liverpool back in January of 2013 from the Italian side Inter in a deal reportedly worth £11.7m (as per Transfermarkt.co.uk). Coutinho went on to play 201 times for the Reds in all competitions, scoring 54 goals and contributing 45 assists.
In 2018, Coutinho left the Merseyside club to join Barcelona for £130.5m (via Transfermarkt.co.uk). Since signing for the Catalan club, Coutinho has made 76 appearances, scoring 21 goals and providing 11 assists. However, in August 2019, the attacking midfielder joined Bayern Munich on loan where he made 23 appearances in the Bundesliga. The German club decided that they would not be taking up their option to sign the player on a permanent deal this summer and so what the future holds for Coutinho is currently unclear.
Speaking on a recent episode of the LFC Daytrippers podcast, Khan was discussing the subject and this is what he had to say: “Him and his agent are desperate for Liverpool; we’re not desperate for him until they become desperate in terms of price and wage and everything.”
TIF Thoughts…
According to Transfermarkt.co.uk, Coutinho holds a current value of £50.4m, and judging by Khan’s comments, we can assume he believes Barcelona would need to be willing to sell the player for significantly less before Liverpool would consider bringing their former star back to the club.
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We can assume that the sale of the Brazilian to Barcelona back in 2018 led to the Reds having the funds to sign both Virgil van Dijk and Alisson for a combined £132.44m (as per Transfermarkt.co.uk). The fact that Van Dijk finished as the runner-up in the race for the Ballon d’Or in 2019 and Alisson won the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper award in the same year suggests that selling Coutinho was perhaps the right call.