Liverpool might be having a tough time of late but they still had the time to celebrate the signing of Philippe Coutinho from Inter Milan four years ago. The mercurial Brazilian has become one of the best players in the Premier League and recently signed a long-term deal to remain at Anfield.
The transfer was done with the help of Rafael Benitez as Coutinho was struggling at Inter Milan but the former manager recommended the Reds to sign him. Damien Comolli, the former director of football at the club was speaking to ESPN FC and stated:
“In the spring of 2012, the owners told me that we had a limited spending budget per player of €10 million and we could only sign players who were under 21.
“I said to the scout: ‘Coutinho becomes our priority’ because we were looking for a wide player to replace Dirk Kuyt. He [Coutinho] was not available because they transferred him to Espanyol [on loan] later on.”
Comolli also revealed that the club didn’t really know about the quality of the now 24-year-old and it was Rafa’s advice on the player that sealed the deal for the club.
“We didn’t even know he was that good—it was difficult to watch him play because he was never playing at Inter. We knew about him, we knew he was good, but it was only when Rafa said he’s going to be world-class. When somebody like Rafa says a thing about a player like this, you listen.”
Liverpool also tweeted about the four year anniversary of Coutinho and the player has come a long way since making sporadic appearances for the side. He has become one of the players who can turn things around in a second and has scored a number of world-class goals for the Premier League club.
#OnThisDay in 2013, we signed the Magician! pic.twitter.com/Iaww24J1tP
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 30, 2017
If there is one criticism about his game, it is the fact that he is extremely inconsistent but he does seem to be getting better with each season at Liverpool. The Brazilin had his best return in terms of goals scored in the Premier League last season with eight and this time he already has five goals and five assists in the competition.
Injury did cut down his time on the pitch for a couple of months this season and that led to a number of poor performances by the Merseyside club. Liverpool have won just one game in 2017 and have been knocked out of two cup competitions. They even lost three home games in a row, a first for Jurgen Klopp since his time at Mainz.
Coutinho, though, has returned now and hopefully, he will be back to his best soon. Liverpool fans will expect the Brazilian to get scoring and creating again but it won’t be tough as they face Chelsea next. The Brazilian is the man who can make a big impact against Chelsea and you can bet, he too wants to dent the title hopes of the Blues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30LopWcC020
