Barcelona’s interest in Philippe Coutinho is not coming to an end anytime soon and the Catalan giants will be looking to sign the unsettled midfielder sooner or later. While they could not get their hands on Coutinho during the summer, it seems like they will lodge a bid in the winter window.
Things reached a boiling point, once again, when Roberto Fernandez, the sporting director of the Catalan giants, was present at Wembley, watching the player in our 4-1 loss at the hands of Tottenham.
However, Ernesto Valverde, the manager of the La Liga leaders is not talking much about Coutinho and is more interested in his academy players. When asked if the club would be looking to sign Coutinho in the winter window, the manager was quoted by the Liverpool Echo as saying:
“If there is interest in signing any player in January who’s not here at the moment, I wouldn’t like it to be broadcast all over the world.
“I’m more interested in (B-team players Carles) Alena, (Jose) Arnaiz and (Oriol) Busquets than other players at other teams.”
This doesn’t really deny that the club would not be looking to sign Coutinho, especially after Barca chief executive Oscar Grau stated that the club is ready to buy the Brazilian in January.
Things To Get Tough For Liverpool
Keeping a hold of Coutinho was tough in the summer window and it will be tougher for us to do the same in January if we keep playing the way we are playing right now. The 25-year-old hasn’t really turned the tables for us but has scored a few important goals.
We are in a horrible position due to our defence and if we do not make amends soon, we could struggle to break into the top-4. This would certainly frustrate an ambitious player like Coutinho, and could eventually consider a move away from the club.
Jurgen Klopp might have to work his magic again and if we do accept a massive bid for the Brazilian, we will have to invest it on our defence. Coutinho is one of the best in the world but a pressing concern is the porous defence that we have and if we can sign two quality defenders in the winter window, it might just save our season.
We would all want Coutinho to stay but the past month or so has been really testing and hopefully, the Brazilian does not leave and we get our season back on track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mgXKDewDrY
