As Liverpool are sitting pretty as Champions of Europe it is no surprise that the quality of player being linked with the Champions League winners is noticeably increasing as Anfield is at the top of many players’ wish lists who want to play in the world’s most intense competitive football league – The Premier League.
Liverpool have been linked with numerous possible transfer deals this summer but so far their only acquisition is one for the future rather than for the current season as the deal for Sepp van den Berg from PEC Zwolle was completed at the end of last month.
The deal for the 17 year old centre-back has an initial fee of £1.3million which could rise to £4.4million if the youngster reaches certain performance milestones.
Looking now at the names being linked to Liverpool things are certainly getting spicy. The biggest story has to be, whether former Kop favourite Philippe Coutinho is coming back to Liverpool as we recently reported? Coutinho remains a popular player with the fans as the midfielder continued with a fully committed approach and played his best in 2017 as he respected the club even when his protracted move to Barcelona was confirmed yet still weeks away. Other big players recently linked to the Reds include Liverpool moving for Marcos Asensio – a deal which reportedly would need to be in the £67 million range to pry him away from Real Madrid.
Another top player linked with a move to Anfield is Leicester’s fine young England midfielder James Maddison who is a wanted man by many teams in the Premier League but is valued by his club at a whopping £75million and then there is the rumour of Liverpool going in for Barcelona’s fine Frenchman Ousmane Dembele. Now this story is one which seems like nothing more than a dream and I think Liverpool would admit that but the fact that these are the quality of players being linked with moves to join Jurgen Klopp says a great deal.
The question we ask when we evaluate a possible signing is: “Will the new signing be an improvement over what we currently have available in that position?” When it comes to creative midfielders and players who can pick that perfect pass at the most crucial times in a game you would have to say Philippe Coutinho would be an improvement over the options Liverpool currently have and the Brazilian is still only 27 years old. The Samba star is still a regular for his country and is arguably only hitting his prime now despite some supposedly indifferent form for Barcelona since making the big move to the Catalan club in January 2018 which could be down to a variety of reasons.
Coutinho has been reportedly linked with a move to arch-rivals Manchester United but the player does not seem the type to make such a move given the great relationship he has with the Liverpool faithful.
So have your say and place your vote below in our Philippe Coutinho Poll as we look to determine what Liverpool fans are currently feeling about the idea of the uber-talented Brazilian playmaker returning to Anfield. As you can probably tell we think bringing Coutinho “home” is a no-brainer and it is a deal Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group should definitely make happen.
VOTE BELOW…