Liverpool would be barmy to keep Philippe Coutinho
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If Barcelona bid anywhere near £110million or £120m for Philippe Coutinho and Liverpool don’t sell then, I’m sorry, but my old club are being barmy.
Atletico Madrid, Monaco and Borussia Dortmund have all built good teams for less in recent years.
And with a bit of clever thinking and some shrewd ­business then with that sort of dough there’s no reason why J­urgen Klopp and Co can’t build a side to rival any of those three.
What will probably happen if Liverpool do relent and sell Coutinho to Barcelona is that they will sink £60m each into the signing of two ­players.
After all, that’s the lazy way the Premier League works these days. But it’s nonsense and it doesn’t have to be the case with so many good players still out there.
(Image: PA Wire)
(Image: REUTERS)
They could bring in three or four with an exciting mix of potential and experience, and in time every Liverpool ­supporter would say, ‘Well, we did well there, didn’t we?’
As it stands, they’re digging they’re heels in and ­refusing to do ­business.
But by doing so they face the ­prospect of losing out twice in terms of the transfer fee and the player’s head going.
The only way the situation works out for all parties now is that Coutinho gets his move to Barca.
I don’t think there’s any chance of keeping a player once he has said he wants to go – and less so than ever these days.
(Image: Getty)
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
When I played, you couldn’t just go on strike - you couldn’t really afford to. But as Diego Costa is proving, ­losing a few hundred ­thousand pounds in fines doesn’t mean much to a multi-millionaire.
It’s not as if they won’t make that money back ­anyway.
Clubs don’t call and say, ‘Hang on in there, keep ­feigning injury and ­eventually we’ll get you. Oh, and by the way, it’s going to cost you a fortune but you’re okay with that, right?’
They’ll be saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll make up any financial disparities, just do whatever it takes to get sold’.
There’s little point ­ Liverpool supporters feeling hard done to in all of this, either, because every club is as bad as the other.
(Image: Action Images via Reuters)
(Image: Getty)
I saw a great tweet that said, ‘All Barcelona are doing to Liverpool is what Liverpool did to Southampton over Virgil van Dijk and what Paris Saint-Germain did to Barca over Neymar.’
The person who wrote that was spot on and the reality is they all deserve what they get because it’s happening all the way along the food chain.
We also have to understand Coutinho is being given the chance to go and play ­alongside arguably the greatest player to have laced up a pair of football boots, and those opportunities don’t come round for many players.
And it’s not like Liverpool have been competing for the title season in, season out or going deep into the ­ Champions League every year for the past four or five.
The best thing for all ­concerned is to get the deal done and fast because, as it stands, nobody is winning.
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