Phillipe Coutinho has been linked with a move back to Anfield for some time and yet another former Liverpool player has backed the Reds to re-sign the Brazilian international.
Last month, Steve Nicol said that the European Champions should lure the Samba playmaker if the price is right (ESPN (via Goal).
News – Move closer – “Unbelievable” £32m star almost destined to sign for Liverpool – Report
This time around, Jose Enrique has claimed that the Premier League champions need a playmaker and Coutinho should be brought back. The ex Newcastle United left back told Stadium Astro:
“We need a playmaker, a No.10, who is going to be better than Coutinho for us? He knows the club, he knows the city, he’s going to perform straight away because he’s been a Premier League player.”
“The only problem is wages-wise, I believe he’s very, very high wages-wise in Barcelona, so I’m not sure if he will go to Liverpool obviously losing money.”
“The problem with Barcelona, they try to play him on the left side all the time, in Neymar’s position and he’s not this type of player, he needs to play in the middle.”
I do agree with Enrique that Coutinho needs to play through the center to excel. Yes, he did play as a winger for us but the South American was at his best in the 2017-18 campaign when Klopp used him in the CM/CAM role and Mane and Salah played out-wide.
The former Inter Milan attacker opted to leave the Merseysiders in the middle of the campaign but in that half a season, he directly contributed in 20 goals for us.
As far as his wages are concerned, as per The Metro, the 28-year-old is earning around £250,000-a-week. Once again, I’d agree with Enrique that the salary is very high, especially taking into consideration that our highest earner, Mohamed Salah, is getting £200,000-a-week at Anfield (The Daily Mail).
However, it must be remembered that Coutinho desperately wants to return to Liverpool and is even ready to take a pay cut to complete the move (The Sunday World).
Since leaving us, he has not been able to progress in his career. He has failed to shine in the La Liga and the Bundesliga but we do know that the Brazilian is a proven Premier League player. In your view, should we bring him back?
