Liverpool will not be selling Philippe Coutinho.
Well, Liverpool will probably not be selling him. Barcelona could still offer the entire Neymar buyout fee, but reports out of England say the Reds instantly shot down a $118 million bid from Barca on Wednesday.
Only about $18 million of that is in add-ons, and -- let’s face it -- unless Coutinho fell down a well outside the Camp Nou he’s going to meet any output goals playing with Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.
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Yes it’s an inflated transfer mill, but I look at “Coutinho - $118 million” and think that maybe Liverpool is crazy for not taking the cash and running into the market for two hopeful replacements. I write this knowing the Anfield faithful will spend the next few hours sharpening their Internet pitchforks for the comment section.
I’ve watched a ton of Newcastle, and honestly I’m not sure there’s even a massive drop-off to fallback option Georginio Wijnaldum, whose best season (11 goals, five assists with Newcastle in 2015-16) isn’t far off from Coutinho’s on a superior team (14 + 9 last season). Heck, hijack your rivals’ bid for Gylfi Sigurdsson, buy four teenage wingers, and spend the rest on a giant platinum statue of Steven Gerrard.
Coutinho is class, and there are few players like him for sure, but I’m curious at what point is Liverpool overvaluing what it has in the Brazilian?