Can Liverpool Keep Coutinho?

With Paris Saint Germain reportedly showing strong interest in Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool fans could probably have done without the Brazilian hitting a dazzling hat trick in the Copa America against Haiti this week. A successful tournament for the mercurial No. 10 could persuade one of his many suitors to turn admiring glances into an all-out pursuit, and that’s the last thing Liverpool need as Jurgen Klopp looks to turn the Merseysiders into contenders once again.

Should the man affectionately dubbed “the Little Magician” by the Kop be tempted to seek a move elsewhere, Liverpool would be faced with the prospect of losing a key player for the third time in as many years, after first Luis Suarez and then Raheem Sterling were lured away from Anfield in successive summers.

When pressed on the speculation this week, Coutinho was worryingly noncommittal in his response: “As far as I know, there’s no offer. I’m here with the national team, and this subject is for my representatives. More important for me is to be here, focused on the national team and having a good tournament. That’s where my head is at.”

Those comments might have set some alarm bells ringing at Anfield. A chance to put supporters minds at ease was spurned, and while Coutinho might not (yet) be actively looking to force a move away as others have done recently, his comments would suggest he’s keeping all available options on the table for now.

Perhaps Coutinho is being swayed by public (and private?) advice given to him by the likes of Dani Alves and Filipe Luis in recent days, but Liverpool supporters may argue that if Coutinho wants to play in the Champions League so badly then perhaps he should have performed better in the Europa League final last month. Had he done so then there’s a good chance he would have been playing on Europe’s biggest stage with Liverpool next season.

While Coutinho provided some wonderful moments throughout the season and chipped in with a dozen goals in all competitions, his form was erratic and the quiet games significantly outweighed the magical ones. Supporters may therefore feel — not entirely without justification — that Coutinho hasn’t yet “earned the right” to move onwards and upwards (as Suarez did for example), but football doesn’t work like that. The promise of more money and a perceived easier path to trophies is usually enough to turn most modern footballer’s heads.

If a Champions League club wants Coutinho and is prepared to pay what it takes to get him, he’s fully entitled to ask to move on should he so desire. Equally, if he does that then supporters are entitled to feel let down by him. When Sterling expressed a desire to leave Anfield to increase his chances of winning silverware, it prompted club legend Jamie Carragher to deliver a damning assessment of his former teammate on Sky’s Monday Night Football. “If he wants to win trophies, he’s got to deliver in big games and he hasn’t done that yet. Where was Raheem Sterling against Aston Villa in the FA Cup semifinal?” The same argument would apply with Coutinho, who is just as likely to completely disappear on the biggest stage as he is to prove a match winner.

In fairness to the Brazilian, any Sterling comparison should end there as he has not held the club to ransom over contract demands or even expressed any desire to move on. If that were to change though it would be interesting to see how Klopp deals with it. The German has previously stated that any player who did not want to be at the club would be allowed to leave, but while that’s a noble sentiment it’s not necessarily the best approach to take. Had Liverpool taken that stance in the summer of 2013, Suarez would have moved to Arsenal and the Reds’ title challenge and 101 goal season would never have happened.

If Klopp had two or three players of Coutinho’s talent or better he could afford to let him walk away, but that is a luxury he simply does not have right now. If Coutinho begins to get itchy feet Klopp must do all he can to talk him around. For all his inconsistency, Coutinho has been voted Liverpool’s “Player of the Year” for the past two seasons and losing him would send out all the wrong kind of messages about where the club is headed.

Then there would be the difficulty in replacing him. What player of Coutinho’s standing would join Liverpool in their current state? A few weeks ago Mario Gotze looked to be headed to Anfield but appears to have since cooled on the idea, perhaps based on that wretched display in Basel that has undermined a lot of the progress made under Klopp.