Liverpool would be searching high and wide to find the right player to replace Philippe Coutinho as the Brazilian seems set for a move to Barcelona. The former Inter Milan man’s move to the Nou Camp was stopped by Liverpool in the summer but the La Liga giants seem to have come back for his signature and Coutinho’s head has turned.
While we have been talking about Thomas Lemar for a number of months, we should be targeting a player that had initially snubbed us when he joined Arsenal. Steve McClaren, the former England manager, was speaking to the Liverpool Echo and the Englishman believes Alexis Sanchez, who earns £140,000-a-week is the right man to take over from Coutinho.
He says we would be getting close to £160m for Coutinho, which would give us a lot of cash to splash around and McClaren believes these funds should be used to sign the former Barcelona star.
“I would look at Sanchez from Arsenal as there may be a bit of movement there,” the former Derby manager was quoted as saying by the Liverpool Echo.
“£160m is a lot of money. You can buy a lot for that [but] Liverpool won’t want to lose Coutinho’s quality.
“I could [see Sanchez at Anfield]. Sanchez will be ambitious and he’s that type of player that could replace Coutinho.”
McClaren, however, did speak out about the amazing attacking talent we have in our side and we might not actually miss losing Coutinho all that much.
“But when you’ve got [Mohamed] Salah, [Sadio] Mane, [Roberto] Firmino and [Adam] Lallana, you might not need to replace him that much. Klopp will not want to lose Coutinho.”
A U-turn From Sanchez?
Sanchez snubbed Liverpool for London when he moved from Barcelona, claiming that the capital would be a better city for him and his family. Now he is ready to move and another club in the running for his signature is Manchester City. So he is bound to move to another city for sure and we can make a big money move for him.
One thing going for us is the fact that we have money to spend and Sanchez would not be that expensive given that he is a free agent in the summer. The 29-year-old is not someone who can replace Coutinho’s playing style but his endless running and creativity might just be the right attributes to take us to the next level.
