Time to cash in?
Liverpool fans are probably sick of hearing about Philippe Coutinho being linked to Barcelona.
They’ve rejected a bid in the region of £90m for the player already but with the Catalan club £198m richer due to their sale of Neymar they need someone to fill that hole.
Apparently, Coutinho is that guy, he is Liverpool’s most important player, but is he actually?
Dion Fanning was speaking on the latest episode of SportsJOE Live alongside Ken Early of Second Captains about all things Liverpool and wasn’t sold on the idea that losing the Brazilian would be detrimental.
“Liverpool’s season last season was really an example what Klopp can do as a manager then they lost (Sadio) Mané and that was the turning point when he went to the Cup of Nations,” Fanning said on SportsJOE Live on Wednesday night.
“The main reason I think they should hang on to Coutinho is because it puts back Barcelona by a year the year that Barcelona will try and buy Mané. They’re going to sell one player every year so if they can hang on to Coutinho next year and they’ve got two more years with Mané because he is the key player for them.
“I do think that is a critical thing, I think Liverpool’s summer has been so bad in the transfer market and if they somehow turn it into a victory that they hang on to Coutinho it kind of says a lot about how the club is being run and that is a big issue like how they’re being cut adrift from the bigger clubs. I’m not sure if any owner who isn’t an oil state can stop that but they are being cut adrift, they haven’t spent the money they said they were going to spend and now they’re making tough statements about Coutinho, I think they should sell Coutinho,” he concluded.
But Ken Early wasn’t in full agreement.
“I don’t think they should (sell Coutinho),” Early told Colm Parkinson.
“I would say Klopp remains popular despite the fan base being more volatile than ever before.
“The reason that he remains popular with people his confidence in his ability because there have been a series of brilliant matches which they beat Chelsea 3-1 in one of his first matches, they beat City 4-1, they beat Manchester United in the Europa League, they beat Dortmund 4-3.
“What do you notice about all those games? Coutinho has been scoring in all those games, he’s been central to all their big moments.
“They haven’t had a really big win or very few really big wins where he hasn’t been the central figure in it,” Early argued.
