Can the Little Magician make himself disappear?

Last updated : 18 February 2023 By Emma Rhodes

Emma Rhodes has her say on the long-running Philippe Coutinho saga... 

All football fans have been gripped over the past week over huge speculation that the Brazilian attacking midfielder will leave Liverpool for Barcelona. After signing a five-year £8 million new contract in just January, it is believed that the 25-year-old wishes to now join the Spanish power house, Barcelona.

Currently earning £150,000 a week at Liverpool, Coutinho is the highest-paid team member so furthering his footballing career would be the motivation if he did choose to leave after Barcelona's £90 million offer.

Just last month, Lucas Leiva also made an emotional announcement that he would be leaving LFC after a 10-year strong relationship with the club. The pair are known to be very close, along with Moreno and Firmino. If he was to leave, Coutinho would not only be joining one of the greatest football teams in the world, but he would be playing alongside Lionel Messi and the former LFC star Luis Suarez.

Barcelona have often been a threat to Liverpool throughout Coutinho's time here, but this time they have really put the pressure on and it would appear heads have been turned. Whilst Liverpool have been insistent that Countinho has not expressed any interest or desire to leave LFC and to join Barcelona, the media are now reporting that the club has since rejected a formal transfer request from Coutinho which was sent via email.

Fans appear to have mixed feelings. Some state they cannot blame him as football is often seen as players wanting to further their career rather than staying loyal to clubs (Danny Rose has come under a lot of heat this week for making comments about Spurs to the press resulting in him formally apologising to the club).

Other fans are annoyed that the rumours appear to have some leverage to them on the eve of Liverpool kicking off their 2017/18 Premier League campaign, adding pressure to the club as attention is elsewhere. Some question if Coutinho was to remain, would he play wholeheartedly or would he hold the rejection against Liverpool?

With no Adam Lallana for the beginning of the season, the midfield will be looking a little bare if Coutinho does decide to leave.

There are lots of questions to be asked and more answers needed before we will know the true impact this is having. The saga continues...

 

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