7 - Philippe Coutinho - V1

[Horatio]

They were worried about the fee rising and I also believe the club thought Valverde needed more options to cope with the heavy workload in the second half of the season.

Sure Coutinho can't play in the CL but adding him along with Dembele coming back from injury is a massive boost to Valverde and the team. It allows Valverde to rest the likes of Iniesta and Messi etc more often especially Iniesta who's 33 years old and doesn't have the pace nor energy like he once had to play on a consistent basis.

While there's players on this team that can afford to play a lot without to much issues, there's others though you need to be more careful with due to age and injury concerns.

Still there has to be more at play here than just tactical advantages. La Liga is as good as in the bag. He can't play CL and he sure as hell hasn't been brought in for Copa.
Like you said I think it's mostly because of the fee rising. Quite possibly Coutinho became really unhappy at Liverpool as well. Rarely have seen a player wanting to leave this fast sacrificing a round of CL.

 

[springfield]

So any explanation as to why Coutinho arrived now instead of summer?

I read somewhere that Barca were afraid to get him in the summer because he would get more expensive after World Cup.

This WC story is so hyped. Player fees can go up for sure, but not for world class players who are already expensive. Barcelona bought him now instead of last summer because Liverpool lowered their price (that's what they said in the press conference), so a higher price in the summer would make no sense because then we would have the same situation as last summer. It's a good thing he came now. With the upcoming WC this summer, there will be less time for pre season. Now he can fully integrate in the team already and adapt to the playing style.

 

[Chainsaw]

Why no number? Barca is still hopeful they can get rid of Arda this January?

 

[khaled_a_d]

Why no number? Barca is still hopeful they can get rid of Arda this January?

We have only one number available right now, it was 20 something IIRC, he is out injuryed for 3 weeks. There should be better numbers available by then.
And it is rumoured he is taking 14 not 7

 

[Raketa10]

Apparently he will get No.14 from Mascherano. Former number of Johan Cruyff.

 

[Messi983]

Not exactly the end I expected.

 

[Barcaman]

So any explanation as to why Coutinho arrived now instead of summer?

I read somewhere that Barca were afraid to get him in the summer because he would get more expensive after World Cup.

Could have gotten him cheaper if we agreed a deal and kept him in Liverpool for 6 more months. So I don't think it was about saving money.

Reckon some promises were made. To Coutinho obviously, Messi maybe as well and Nike probably (leaked it first).

 

[behindbrowneyes]

IF....IF....that's true

Then it just proves Neymar is a cunt that told everyone except his team mates and the club that he was leaving.

Why anyone would respect him after he screwed us over I cannot understand. Would have been okay if he told he leaving from the beginning instead of him and his phony dad telling us they were unsure.

Of course he knew it before. It was already clear on the day he paid his buyout-clause that this was a long planned thing. They just waited for the deadline of his loyalty-bonus. That's the only reason this transfer took so long.

 

[MessiCam]

I still feel Coutinho is better as an inverted LW but I like his ability to play as midfielder too.

 

[henias]

I still feel Coutinho is better as an inverted LW but I like his ability to play as midfielder too.

Same, i still think he will lethal as a winger due to his goalscoring abilities and pace.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Still there has to be more at play here than just tactical advantages. La Liga is as good as in the bag. He can't play CL and he sure as hell hasn't been brought in for Copa.
Like you said I think it's mostly because of the fee rising. Quite possibly Coutinho became really unhappy at Liverpool as well. Rarely have seen a player wanting to leave this fast sacrificing a round of CL.

We are getting him for extra half months for same price, so in a way or another it makes sense
What doesn't make sense is Liverpool accepting a January move, this has basically mad their fans furious about the move. most of them would have accepted it next summer.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

Still there has to be more at play here than just tactical advantages. La Liga is as good as in the bag. He can't play CL and he sure as hell hasn't been brought in for Copa.
Like you said I think it's mostly because of the fee rising. Quite possibly Coutinho became really unhappy at Liverpool as well. Rarely have seen a player wanting to leave this fast sacrificing a round of CL.

He has CL-football in the next five years. He said that. I'm sure he knew the chances are not that big to win the CL with Pool this year as with Barcelona in the next years. It is clear that he wanted this move asp. Footballers are one-man-companies and their biggest fears are severe injuries. A severe injury in the next months and Barcelona would've gone for somebody else. His Barcelona career would be over before it started.

If he stayed in Liverpool they would've played him nearly every game and then is world-cup. Not only will he be rested for the world-cup, but he will have time to adapt to our type of football. World-cups are bad for club managers since most of their players miss pre-season. Therefore, there is hardly any time for integration. The winter move really makes sense for both Coutinho and Barcelona.

 

[Sekou]

Happy to have him. A quick-thinking, somewhat robust runner is going to be needed to fill in that midfield spot behind our attack-line next season. Coutinho, Messi, Suarez - and to a certain extent also Dembele - are going to leave a vacuum behind that first line of pressing that they'll provide. Busquets/Rakitic are not able to cover that space (refer to last season) and, sadly, nothing so far has pointed to Sergi Roberto becoming a permanent option.

 

[Thiago10]

No picture with Leo yet?

 

[Meatball]

Coutinho looks like a fanboy standing in front of his idols in that pic