While we are the Premier League champions, this summer has been a frustrating one for us all.
For the second successive summer, the Reds have yet to significantly strengthen our squad after capturing a major honour. But despite this, manager Jurgen Klopp still managed to achieve what no other has managed to do in 30 years, win us a league title.
So you would think that it would be good for us to continue strengthening while we are on top, wouldn’t it? As John Aldridge said, it is the ‘Liverpool way’ after all. But there is still time for us to do just that, with the transfer window due to close on October 5th.
Despite this, we have already seen deals fall through this summer. The most high-profile player was RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner because of financial constraints caused by the temporary suspension of last season and with games being played behind closed doors.
Jamal Lewis is another name that we were not willing to meet the asking price for, as the former Norwich City left-back opted to move to Newcastle United instead.
While Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara seems to be the name on everyone’s lips this summer, another high-profile player was talked about regarding a potential Anfield move, or should I say, return.
Philippe Coutinho has had a miserable time at Barcelona since his £142m in January 2018. His horrendous 18 months led to the Catalan giants sending him out on loan to Bayern Munich. But the Bavarian behemoths chose not to exercise their option to buy, which saw him return to Spain.
Reports earlier this year suggested that he could return to Anfield, but these rumours were squashed by journalist Kevin Palmer, who spoke with Empire of the Kop.
“Liverpool don’t want him! Simple as that”, he said bluntly. “The story we did in the Sunday World saying he wanted to come back to Liverpool got a lot of attention and it is 100 per-cent accurate.
“Coutinho would ideally like to return to Liverpool and you can see why. They have won everything since he left. Partly because they bought so well with the money they got for him.
“His agent (Kia Joorabchian) is trying to get him a move this summer and Arsenal or Tottenham look most likely.
“For what it’s worth, I think he would have been great at Liverpool on a one-year loan. A class act who would add to a brilliant squad.”
L4L’s view…
As much as signing Coutinho would be brilliant for us, it seems like nothing but a distant dream after everything that has already happened this summer. But there is no question that the transfer would greatly benefit the Brazilian, providing him with the opportunity to get his career back on track.
But our business model states that we have to be self-sustainable, which is not what other clubs are following. While this worked last summer, it could be a concern going into our Premier League title defence.
We won’t find out what effect this has after the halfway point of the 2020/21 campaign. It’s fair to say that it is extremely unlikely that Coutinho will make the switch to Liverpool.
