PHILIPPE COUTINHO
MASSIVE MISTAKE OR MASTERSTROKE? LIVERPOOL RISK THEIR SEASON WITH COUTINHO SALE
Cut through the noise of the circumstances around the Brazilian's exit and the Reds have an unenviable task of filling his creative void
There was the intelligence to wait for the wall of players to jump, before expertly tucking his free-kick under them at the Amex. By then, Philippe Coutinho had already provided two assists against Brighton and Hove Albion, with his improvisation from the deadball situation making it 4-1 to Liverpool on 87 minutes.
Only 120 seconds passed from that bit of splendour, before the Brazil international was tormenting the opposition again as his curler was deflected in by Lewis Dunk.
Done deal! @Phil_Coutinho
#CoutinhoDay pic.twitter.com/8djvhmytAO
RELATEDNEYMAR, COUTINHO AND THE MOST EXPENSIVE TRANSFERS IN HISTORYBARCELONA AGREE RECORD €160M DEAL WITH LIVERPOOL FOR COUTINHOVALVERDE HAILS 'IMPORTANT' COUTINHO SIGNING AHEAD OF OFFICIAL BARCELONA PRESENTATIONCOUTINHO THRILLED TO WORK WITH MESSI AND BARCELONA'S 'IDOLS'
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 8, 2018
The orchestration of that demolition came at the start of December, a month in which Coutinho was at his most prolific, scoring seven goals in total - and the one in which he played his final game for Liverpool.
It included his first hat-trick for the club - in the Champions League against Spartak Moscow - as well as his only header, which came at Arsenal.
The discussion around how the playmaker exited Anfield, mid-season, to become Barcelona’s record signing in a £142 million deal will be long and heated.
Coutinho was desperate for his departure to such a degree that he committed to paying £11.5m of his transfer fee to meet Liverpool’s valuation after continuously repeating his intention to move to Camp Nou since July.
That he was documented during the final days of negotiations as though it was an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians - him posing for pictures in a London hotel room watching the Merseyside derby and on a private plane laughing away as the talks progressed - will understandably and rightly have garnered negative PR, instead of the positivity intended.
Cut through the noise, though, and from a purely football perspective, the 25-year-old waved farewell wondrously. Just ask Swansea City trio Federico Fernandez, Roque Mesa and Kyle Naughton, who were flummoxed as to how to thwart him, all trying and failing as Coutinho whipped his foot around the ball to curl his effort into the top corner in a 5-0 victory.
There will have been high-fives aplenty in dressing rooms around the Premier League with players relieved that he is no longer around to conjure their embarrassment.
