Philippe Coutinho

[Batistuta9]

I honestly think he would improve our team straight away. Messi's lack of work rate would no longer be an issue. He could do the role that rakitic did in 14/15, but he would do it better because its his natural game. Its not always about the best individual players but having the right balance in the team

 

[wisconsincule]

Which might be a clutch purchase, Kante isn't Suarez, he seems the type of guy to sustain his work rate for another few years, and because of his age, he might go for cheap.

I suppose if we would swap Vidal out with Kante I would be fine with it. Nothing suggests Chelsea would sell him at a bargain though. He has a contract through 2023.

Give me a player in their early 20’s with Kante’s profile. Any of these young French midfielders we’ve been linked to fit that?

 

[Morten]

Why would you even want Kante? Whenever you bought a real DM you just end up putting him as CB anyway, and you could probably find better CBs than Kante.
If you want a CB, just buy a CB.

 

[Messi983]

Why would you want Kante if you can get Camavinga?

 

[Batistuta9]

Why would you want Kante if you can get Camavinga?

Camavinga would be good, but there is no guarantee he will develop into a player close to kante's level. So many things can go wrong, like with dembele. Kante is ready made, will be able to deliver straight away and might give Messi one last chance at CL. We wouldn't have lost at anfield imo if we had kante, our midfield got overran

 

[Messigician]

No more French players thanks.

 

[Batistuta9]

Why would you even want Kante? Whenever you bought a real DM you just end up putting him as CB anyway, and you could probably find better CBs than Kante.
If you want a CB, just buy a CB.

He is more of a box to box CM than a DM. He has too much stamina to just sit in front of the defence. People think he's a DM just because he wins the ball so often. Would compliment busquets lack of athleticism as well. A bit like what gattuso did for pirlo

 

[LABarcaFan]

In Jan. 2018 Coutinho has signed 5.5 years deal with Barcelona, worth 160 million euro. That is around 29 mil. a year
Last summer Bayern pad 8.5 mil. loan fee to Barcelona and currently are paying his salary for 2020 which is 23.4 mil. That makes total of 31,887,633 millions for the season. The information coming from England, Germany and Spain is that no other team is showing any interest to buy or get on loan the Brazilian. Chelsea are willing to get him on loan for 2020/2021 season and if he plays well, they are going to keep him and pay his annual salary of 29 million till 2023, when his contract is over.
Damn it. This thread is for PHILIPPE COUTINHO, not for Kante, Camavinga or someone else. I believe, there are threads for these players, no?

 

[LABarcaFan]

No more French players thanks.

 

[Messi983]

Camavinga would be good, but there is no guarantee he will develop into a player close to kante's level. So many things can go wrong, like with dembele. Kante is ready made, will be able to deliver straight away and might give Messi one last chance at CL. We wouldn't have lost at anfield imo if we had kante, our midfield got overran

We need much more than just Kante to win the CL. He alone wouldn't make a difference at Anfield. Our problems in the CL are much more psychological than anything else at this point (we haven't scored in 7 of the last 8 CL away games when we were eliminated; you can't blame this just on bad luck, poor tactics from different coaches or look for scapegoats in some less liked players like most people usually do) and I think things won't change until this old core (including Messi) is here. We need fresh blood. Players who haven't won much in their careers and will be motivated in every game like Messi, Pique, Busi,... were 10+ years ago.

Also, Messi won't stay for more than 2-3 seasons so we should start planning for post-Messi era. Yes, Camavinga is certainly not a guarantee to succeed but neither is Kante. Even most proven players coming from other leagues have usually needed a season or more to adapt so why do you think Kante would fit right into the team? And if we're gambling I'd much rather do that with a younger player with great upside who could stay here longterm and be one of the key players in our new, rebuilded team once the amigos are finally gone than have another 30+ player who we couldn't get rid of in 2-3 years once we will finally decide to blow the things over. And it will be much more painful and it will take us more time to get back on track if we'll wait so long while RM will buy the likes of Camavinga and Haaland to add them to some of their already good younger players.

No more French players thanks.

Yeah, why should we look at buying players from a country who produces the most talents in the world nowadays when we could buy an old and expensive Brazilian guy who is partying all the days and who has also backstabbed us in the past.

 

[Sailor Mars]

Sell Coutinho for big money to Newcastle and their new Saudi owners (pending deal finalization).

 

[Batistuta9]

Sell Coutinho for big money to Newcastle and their new Saudi owners (pending deal finalization).

That's a good shout. Their owners will want to make a marquee signing and coutinho is still very rated in the Premier league . Newcastle fans will be made up to get a player like coutinho. Only thing is he may not want to go to Newcastle.

Also I was saying a few days ago maybe we should swap coutinho for kante and there is report in MD about this

https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futbol/fc-barcelona/20200415/48515482110/coutinho-kante-trueque-posible-para-el-barca.html

They really do get their transfer news from here 🤣

 

[Messi983]

Sell Coutinho for big money to Newcastle and their new Saudi owners (pending deal finalization).

Why would he want to go there though? I doubt he'd have any interest joining a club who won't play in the CL next year and possibly not even over the next few years. Newcastle's new owners might invest a lot of money but this alone is far away from guaranteeing them a top 4 spot in a very competitive league where every club has a lot of money. It also took City a few years and their Sheikh spend around 500m on new players in his first three seasons. Will Saudis be willing to also invest as much? And even if they will today's market is very different than 10 years ago. City bought the likes of Yaya and David Silva for around 30m in 2010 and Aguero for 40m a year later. How much would players of their quality cost today in the market where almost every average player is sold for 30-40m?

And all this is assuming Newcastle's new owners will actually be willing to invest big money from the start. Even if they would it's possible they will prefer to buy several "cheaper" players to improve overall quality of the team before buying a "star" or two to push them over the top once they'll feel ready to compete for a top 4 in a year or two. Or their philosophy might be going after younger players to build a solid longterm nucleus instead of signing players who have failed at big clubs. We just don't know what their plans are. Coutinho's current wages would probably also be an obstacle if he wouldn't take a pay cut. If they would start with giving him close to what he currently earns they would need to give higher wages to most/all of their other signings as well. And this could quickly turn out dangerous nowadays with stricter FFP rules.

Also, from a purely sporting perspective we don't know who Newcastle's manager will be and if/how Coutinho would fit into his plans.

 

[Messigician]

We're doomed

Quique Seti?n: "I like Coutinho and maybe I have to talk to him. He's a great player. I don't know what he wants for next season." [rac1 via sport]

 

[Respekt_III]

We're doomed

Quique Seti?n: "I like Coutinho and maybe I have to talk to him. He's a great player. I don't know what he wants for next season." [rac1 via sport]

Not that bad. It's better than loosing him for nothing. If he gains some sort of form we can get more for him if we still decide to sell him later on. His price is already pretty fucked for us.