Philippe Coutinho

[Kloppite]

I dont think he will leave but i fear if he does Bobby will also leave.

As a club we should be trying to hold onto our best players and to add better players in order for us to challenge season after season.

[LFC 6 Times]

I don't see why there's so much panic about this. Tabloid nonsense, absolutely nothing to suggest there's a hint of truth in it. Phil's a smart boy and Klopp is onto something here, the club are making noises about their intent to build the team around mane, firmino and Phil,I think he'll still be here in 3 years time.

[Bjornebye]

I don't see why there's so much panic about this. Tabloid nonsense, absolutely nothing to suggest there's a hint of truth in it. Phil's a smart boy and Klopp is onto something here, the club are making noises about their intent to build the team around mane, firmino and Phil,I think he'll still be here in 3 years time.

Hope so mate

[Barrington Womble]

The Brazilian press have asked him about moving to Madrid today. He replied something like klopp gives him confidence and he feels at home.

[Grinch]

Coutinho needs to be more consistent

 

Waaaah consistent Coutinho will want to join a bigger club.

 

Enjoy him while he's here. If concrete interest happens in the summer (7 months away) we'll deal with it then.

[stringvest]

No player is bigger than the club. It's not like we'd be losing another Suarez anyway.

[Guest LFD]

Liverpool forward Philippe Coutinho following in Neymar’s footsteps

 

Chris Bascombe

12 NOVEMBER 2016 • 10:16PM

 

Liverpool’s boy from Brazil is coming of age. Despite Philippe Coutinho’s potential, the question lingered of when or if he would elevate himself to world-class status. For both club and country, this is becoming a breakthrough season, with Coutinho the outstanding performer in Liverpool’s emerging title bid.

 

The 24-year-old transferred his impressive domestic form to the international stage with a stunning goal against Argentina in midweek, prompting renewed expectation of a Barcelona bid.

 

For those who assisted Coutinho’s development, this is his time.

 

“His ambition is to be in the list of the top 10 players [in the world],” says Rodney Goncalves, Coutinho’s former youth coach at Vasco da Gama.

 

“The Brazil squad needed to renew itself after the World Cup and everybody expected that he would be selected. Now he is, and this moment is very special. With Neymar and Coutinho playing together again, they are seen as the couple that can give us a lot of titles. They played together in the Brazilian youth teams and were the players who stood out when they played against each other in the youth sides for Vasco da Gama versus Santos.

 

 

“Coutinho can be compared to Neymar, but Coutinho is Coutinho. He can become a very popular in Brazil and around the world like Neymar, he just needs to get a sequence of games in the Brazilian squad.

 

“There is pressure on him but it is not a problem. He plays at a big club and plays in the most important league in the world.”

 

The Liverpool man was once considered ahead of Neymar when his country looked to its next generation.

 

“Coutinho started at Vasco da Gama in 2000, when he was just eight years old,” says Goncalves, still a close friend of the Liverpool forward.

 

“He always played futsal when he was young, and the scouts of Vasco da Gama brought the information about this young player who was giving great performances during the school tournaments. That was when he was signed and I had the pleasure to coach him in under-17 team.

 

“Normally players need to time to adapt and understand the new targets, but once he joined us it was immediate. The first game I remember we were leading 2-0 coming towards the end and I decided to send him on. It was a hard game, but some supporters who’d seen him for the younger sides were already singing his name ‘Coutinho, Coutinho’.

 

“There were 10 minutes to play and when I looked at him I could see how much he wanted to go on. He scored two and made an assist, turning a difficult game into an easy 5-0 win. He had a different way of understanding the game and deciding it with his actions.”

 

Coutinho was headhunted by Inter Milan at 16, joining two years later in 2010. He was declared ‘the future of Milan’ by then manager Rafael Benítez, but within three months his journey to Liverpool was beginning.

 

The night Inter Milan played Tottenham in the San Siro in October 2010 is remembered for Gareth Bale’s hat-trick, but Coutinho also made an impression, involved in two of Inter’s goals in the 4-3 win.

 

Michael Edwards, last week named Liverpool’s sporting director, was Spurs’ head of analytics then. Barry Hunter, now Liverpool’s chief scout, was watching for Manchester City. Edwards’s pre-match duty was to assess the threat of Samuel Eto’o and Wesley Schneider, but Coutinho stood out.

 

But despite an encouraging start, by 2013 Coutinho’s progress in Italy had stalled, not helped by six managerial changes in three years.

 

“The Italian football was different and a difficult way to play,” says Goncalves. “He was young and soft — he needed more time to adapt to the Italian style.

 

“All Brazilian players have a dream which is to play in their club’s first teams and after that play in Europe. But in his case it was difficult because he was a young boy and he didn’t ever get the chance to play in the first team of Vasco da Gama before he moved.

 

“It was only after Inter Milan when he was loaned to Espanyol he had the chance to develop his skills and understand the new reality of playing at that level of football.” Mauricio Pochettino took hold of the youngster in Spain, later trying to take him to Southampton. By then, Edwards and Hunter were part of newly-installed Liverpool recruitment team.

 

They were considering a bid for Partizan Belgrade’s Lazar Markovic, who they would later sign from Benfica. A £5 million offer to re-sign Tom Ince was also lodged in December 2012. Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston was not answering his phone.

 

In mid-January, another of Liverpool’s recently appointed scouts Dave Fallows – who had watched Coutinho shine against Fiorentina that September – was informed the Italians’ finances made the youngster disposable. He was shocked.

 

Liverpool’s South American scout, Fernando Troiani, was pivotal in triggering negotiations with Coutinho’s representatives as the club frantically tried to beat the Saints. Coutinho indicated Liverpool was his preference.

 

Brendan Rodgers enthusiastically embraced the idea and Ian Ayre agreed the €10 million deal on the day Liverpool lost to Oldham in the FA Cup on January 27, 2013. Edwards and Hunter completed the successful work permit application with over three years of analysis.

 

Now Coutinho’s game has evolved to the point where he and Neymar may soon be on the same pedestal again. The expectation remains his final destination will be wearing the same jersey as Neymar for both club and country. Yet Goncalves has a message for Liverpool fans concerned by the hints from the Nou Camp. He is sure Coutinho has far more he wants to achieve at Anfield.

 

“Whenever we speak he always says that is very happy at Liverpool and his biggest challenge is to win the Premier League and Champions League with Liverpool,” says Goncalves.

 

“He knows that if he continues to give great performances for Liverpool, he will always be selected for Brazil.”

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/11/12/liverpool-forward-philippe-coutinho-following-in-neymars-footste/

[lifetime fan]

Agreed. Fuck waiting. Give him £150k p/w or whatever he wants now.

It'll be a shitload more than £150k a week.

 

Isn't Milner supposed to be on £180k?

[lifetime fan]

Either way just give him the contract he deserves. He's been excellent.

[Jairzinho]

It'll be a shitload more than £150k a week.

 

Isn't Milner supposed to be on £180k?

 

No idea, and don't care. As you said, just pay him.

[Kevin D]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/11/12/liverpool-forward-philippe-coutinho-following-in-neymars-footste/

Presumably, Bascombe thought a neon sign with "God save the transfer committee" would have been too obvious.

[xerxes]

Either way just give him the contract he deserves. He's been excellent.

 

I agree.

 

But we do have to accept that for Latin players, Madrid and Barca will always have a pull.

[eeyore]

I agree.

 

But we do have to accept that for Latin players, Madrid and Barca will always have a pull.

Have to remember that even man united couldn't keep hold of Ronaldo when they were winning the league.

 

If Phil wants to go, he will go but I'm not sure he feels like that.

 

He signed that shitty 70k a week contract instantly when the sterling sags was going on.

[amli]

Apparently he has the 'Barca DNA'.

They could at least change their chat up line.

[Guest LFD]

Coutinho probably does want to go to Barca at some point.

 

But he's young and I think he'll want to achieve success here first before going.  He clearly loves Klopp, he's playing the best football of his career and he is the star here.  If he goes to Barca he won't be the star, it is debatable whether he'd be a regular in their team.

 

He seems the ideal Iniesta replacement to me, but Iniesta isn't quite ready to be replaced.

 

So makes sense Coutinho stays here, enjoys playing his football and tries to get some success here.

 

There is a lot to be said for players being happy.  Coutinho was not happy at Inter and he might appreciate it more than other players who got the chance to move to Barca or Real.  

 

Like Benitez at Newcastle.  He probably could have gone to better clubs than Newcastle.  But since Liverpool he has been at clubs who have not wamed to him at Real, Chelsea, Inter etc.  Newcastle fans love him and I think that love he got, made him want to stay.

 

Coutinho is loved here and I think that goes a long way to keeping him for another year or two, before he will probably go due to the pull Real and Barca have for latin players.

[plazzy]

I don't see why there's so much panic about this. Tabloid nonsense, absolutely nothing to suggest there's a hint of truth in it. Phil's a smart boy and Klopp is onto something here, the club are making noises about their intent to build the team around mane, firmino and Phil,I think he'll still be here in 3 years time.

 

Exactly. International week, fuck all going on so the press are stirring up shit as there's nothing else to write about.

[moof]

It's utterly pointless trying to second guess what he might do or what he might want. He's here for the foreseeable future until we hear otherwise. Barca, go fuck yourselves.

[magicrat]

Has the cunt gone yet ?

[Bad Red Bull]

Has the cunt gone yet ?

Yeah, JP's been banned

[3 Stacks]

Unless we fail to get into the Champions League this season, he shouldn't go. He's in a system here that is getting the best out of him and it's given him the platform to get into the Brazil team regularly. I think he knows this as well.

 

If it gets to a point where we keep stagnating and can't give him top notch European football or a real chance at trophies then he would probably reconsider but if we accomplish what we have the potential to accomplish this season, I think he stays.

[Jose Jones]

I agree.

 

But we do have to accept that for Latin players, Madrid and Barca will always have a pull.

Because they speak Potugese in Barcelona and the culture is just the same as Brazil.

 

Oh, hang on a minute...

[Guest Pistonbroke]

The wages must be shit though, the poor fuckers have to dodge paying tax. 

[magicrat]

Read somewhere earlier he is not going anywhere, Happy where he is, getting picked for Brasil and looking forward to winning the league and CL with Klopp, He's under contract to 2020 so all that means he'll go at end of next season, 

[Guest LFD]

Barcelona might covet Coutinho but Liverpool are in a position of strength

 

BY TONY BARRETT

 

“When seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.” Eric Cantona.

 

To use Cantona's most famous quote as terms of reference, in recent years Liverpool have been the trawler, Barcelona and Real Madrid the seagulls and the Merseyside club's best players the sardines that have been thrown into the sea for the vultures hovering above to gobble up. Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez have all gone that way and now, predictably and inevitably, reports indicate that Philippe Coutinho could follow.

 

The difference now, though, is that Liverpool are no longer easy meat. Where their best and most coveted player is concerned, they occupy a position of strength. The seagulls may not want to go elsewhere but they might have to.

 

For different reasons, Liverpool's weakness was there to be exploited when Barcelona came calling for Mascherano and Suarez and Real came for Alonso. Regardless of the breakdown in his relationship with Rafael Benitez, Alonso had to be sold in the summer of 2009 because Liverpool had to service their debts. The same applied to Mascherano 12 months later. These were not players sold at the right time, for the right price and with a view to reinvesting the proceeds to make improvements; they were financial sacrifices that were absolutely necessary.

 

La Liga's big two duly took advantage, signing two of world football's best midfielders of the modern era for a combined total of £50 million.

 

Since their moves, Mascherano and Alonso have, between them, won 18 major domestic honours in Spain and Germany and been Champions League winners three times. There is no question that the value in both deals belonged with the buyers. Real and Barcelona identified a distressed business and stripped it of two of its best assets. In doing so, they strengthened La Liga and weakened the Premier League in keeping with the dynamics of a relationship which sees them take only the very best from English clubs who are yet to show the kind of resistance needed to start turning the tide in their favour.

 

Liverpool were equally powerless three summers ago when Barcelona decided that they had to have Suarez. In fairness to Liverpool, this was a transfer that the Uruguay international had been seeking long before he joined them and one which his agent, Pere Guardiola, had sought to make possible in every contract he agreed with exit clauses being a condition of every contract that Suarez signed.

 

From that point of view, the only way they could afford themselves any kind of protection was to ensure that if Suarez ever did get his dream move they would receive significant compensation, an objective they achieved when he was sold for £75 million just six months after signing a new contract with a vastly increased buyout clause.

 

Nevertheless, Suarez, like Alonso and Mascherano before him, was there for the taking. The same cannot be said of Coutinho. Liverpool are no longer under fiscal pressure. Under Fenway Sports Group (FSG), their owners, they have gone from the brink of administration to profit in the space of six years and are no longer at the mercy of financial institutions. For the first time in far too long, they are in a position in which they can repel interest in their best players.

 

Even if reports emanating from Spain suggesting Real and Barcelona both want Coutinho are accurate, and his form alone this season indicates there is every reason to believe there is something in them, Liverpool have no reason to fear that history is about to repeat itself. They are masters of their own destiny.

 

That Coutinho does not have a buyout clause further strengthens their hand and as undeniably brilliant as the Brazilian now is, Liverpool should not reward him because the vultures are circling once more, they should only offer him a pay rise on their own terms. That, after all, is what being in a position of strength is all about.

 

It is what players do for Liverpool and not fear that they could be lost to a rival that should most inform any future pay negotiations and on that basis Coutinho can justifiably expect a significant rise on his current £80,000 per week salary if and when he next agrees a deal.

 

In so many respects, Coutinho has become a symbol of what FSG want to achieve at Liverpool. Signed for a low fee (£8.5 million) at an age when his potential had not yet been realised, he represents the best of a transfer strategy which is becoming increasingly effective. Re-signed on improved terms three years later, the foresight of his retention underlined a growing awareness of the talent that Liverpool has at its disposal and the need to move swiftly and decisively to ensure it is not lost. Most importantly of all, he stands as the example of what they are trying to achieve on the pitch; an individual of beguiling ability who brings out the best in the team at the same time as the team brings out the best in him.

 

If Liverpool's progress was to be embodied in a single individual it would be Coutinho and like his club, the former Inter Milan player needed the appointment of a top class manager to take him to the next level. The arrival of Jurgen Klopp has been another obvious positive for Liverpool, not to mention a further sign of FSG's growing understanding of the environment that they are operating in, and an additional spin off of his presence is that he is the kind of manager that top players find it difficult to walk away from.

 

“Klopp gives me confidence,” Coutinho said by way of response when asked about interest from Spain at the weekend. He should also give Liverpool confidence for they now have a manager around whom they can build, one who players expect to improve under and enjoy playing for. But he is also – and this should not be forgotten regardless of their desire to keep Coutinho – the kind who would not be afraid to cash in on an individual if he believes it to be in the best interests of the club.

 

It is highly unlikely that he believes that time is approaching in Coutinho's case, particularly given the forward is just 24, but even if the moment does arrive when Klopp feels an offer from Real or Barcelona, should it ever come, is too good to turn down, Liverpool will at least be in a position to do business on their terms. As a sign of progress, that is one of the most telling of all. The seagulls might still follow, but the sardines will only be thrown into the sea because those on the trawler want to do so, not because they have to.

 

http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/barcelona-liverpool-coutinho/97739

[Bobby Hundreds]

Oh such prose. Fuck da seagulls.