Phil Thompson said Liverpool should replace Coutinho with Suarez, Aguero or Alli His knowledge of football must be a state if he can only list these famous faces as replacements ā Iām surprised he didnāt throw in Ronaldo and Bale too. Heās right by saying if you donāt ask you donāt get, but come on, heās lost the plot if he thinks Liverpool have a chance of signing any of those.
While unlikely and a tad ambitious, it is the correct mentality imo.
Liverpool have rejected a third bid from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho - believed to be in the region of Ā£114m.
Last week, the Reds rejected a Ā£90m bid from the Spanish giants for the 25-year-old Brazil attacking midfielder, who then submitted a transfer request.
Crazy stuff
They are basically doing what we are doing with Sanchez. They want to keep him, even if he is unhappy at Liverpool. They know they canāt replace him.
Rejected Ā£114m for Phillipe Coutinho
Heās their best player and seemingly irreplaceable st this point, in this summer awash with cash of so many people saying ānoā to each other.
Well done Liverpool tbh
What I donāt get about Coutinho is why on earth youād sign a 5 year contract in Jan 2017 with no release clause as youāre about to enter your best years. Doesnāt deserve his move for being so stupid
With the difference that they have him on a 5 years contract.
Honestly I donāt think anyone was expecting Barcelona to be interested in him after a year and no club is going to hand out release clauses if they donāt have to.
Unfortunately everyone knows Barca have the money. Liverpool donāt have to accept stupid bids.
Itās not even about the Barcelona interest at this point - I just donāt get you wouldnāt keep your options open knowing youāre a top PL player. Itās not like he needed the security of a new LFC contract so what was the incentive to sign? I think he saw money being offered and bit.
If I was his agent iād be insisting on a RC, knowing heās LFC best player and that anything can happen in football. I think heās been poorly advised tbh
Perhaps weāre all just too used to players getting their way. Might take a little while to adjust to a new reality as the pendulum swings back the other way a little bit.
First it was the matchgoing fan that ceased to be of much relevance to a club, now it seems the players themselves, or rather their valuations, are not so definitive to clubs in the top leagues
Money and that he was bound to a contract at them for another 3 years anyway.
And meh, RC arenāt handed out in the PL unless youāre prime Suarez and if there was one that clause would have to be high enough for maybe 2-3 clubs in the world being able to trigger it, if at all. It would still have to be north of what Barcelona is offering, considering the money in the league even last summer.
Tbh they should probably take the money for him. Heās their best player, but even in this inflated market thatās paying over the top for him. As I saw someone tweet earlier (cba to find it), both Liverpool and Barcelona are doing stupid things to prove they are a big club (offering that much money and Liverpool rejecting it ).
Haha thatās a nice turn of phrase.
My Liverpool fan has just informed me though that the bids are nothing like the sums they are reported asā¦ (which makes sense, because turning down Ā£114m for Coutinho just doesnāt)
The Ā£82m was supposedly paid over like 5 years and the add-ons are very unreachable for the most part.
Apparently the bids are a bit insulting, I suppose they will finally sell him when BarƧa stops doing their Catalan penny-pinching thing and gives a good offer.
Tbh, though, I would be looking to seal Dembele first, because heās the difference maker and the real replacement for Neymar. They need both but Iām surprised they are not making more progress on the first.
What would you say if Alexis was 25 and had years left on his contract? The last time Liverpool took a great price for their best player they ended up investing that money in Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli and then floating around 5th-7th.
If it was the case that you could take your money and buy a legitimate replacement for the same or a bit less then itās worth selling but if all youāre going to end up with is money in the bank and a worse team then whatās the point, even for Ā£115m? Even Barcelona are struggling to seal deals at over Ā£100m so I doubt Liverpool can have much hope of coming home with an adequate replacement in the next 10 days.
Theyāve been on the fringes since they sold Suarez and itās only now theyāre putting a team together and are back in the CL. Itād be silly to let finance get in the way of football when they donāt seem to be desperate for the money. Iām sure Coutinho will be professional enough if the window shuts and heās been forced to stay. If he signed a new deal he doesnāt really have a leg to stand on.
If theyāre able to use the extra funds to over pay for Naby Keita (theyāve already had a near Ā£70m offer rejected, probably looking at very close to Pogba money) then go ahead and sell, if not hold onto him because the chances of being able to attract similar talent are unlikely imo.
Thatās very true. But I think the two are not wholly comparable. For one thing Suarez was much more important for Liverpool, they were never going to properly replace him. Countinho is important, but this type of player is easier to replace than 30+ goals in a season.
The ball in certainly in their court though, with Countinho on a 5 year contract. With it being a world cup year heād be stupid to further alienate himself from the manager (although I assume heāll do so until the end of the window).
Also, I agree @AbouCuellar. Barcelona should be pursuing Demebel over Countinho. Heās the player that could potentially replace Neymar in the future.
Thatās because Dortmund want 150m Euros for him and Barcelona arenāt willing to pay that much (yet).
Money being thrown about during this Summer is just simply mental. Though fiar play to Liverpool for standing their ground, difficult no doubt to turn that sorta money down. This could well run until deadline day.
They do look fucking shit. Lucky to make the top 4 this season.