It seems as though the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona has had a positive effect on the Liverpool team.
There is certainly evidence that it has galvanised his former team mates.
The arrivals of Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah have definitely helped the situation but Liverpool don’t appear to be missing the Brazilian at all and neither of their two aforementioned signings were bought as a direct replacement.
They are, of course, awaiting the arrival of Naby Keita in the summer and he could be considered a replacement for Coutinho’s position, if not for the player himself, and this should make them even stronger.
So what has changed at Liverpool in the recent past? Initially, Jürgen Klopp didn’t seem to be making much difference and, at one stage, his record was worse than his predecessor Brendan Rodgers and there was a hint of unrest among the Liverpool faithful.
Now, he appears to have everybody onside and is going from strength to strength.
The catalyst could have been the signing of Roberto Firmino. OK, so his talents lay slightly submerged for a short while and were only seen in glimpses but now he has emerged from under the shadow of Coutinho and is showing why he was such a good buy.
His 24 goals this season also means he scores more than did his fellow Brazilian.
Firmino is now playing alongside Mo Salah and Sadio Mané, two signings which raised questions at the time as Mané had only looked good in an average Southampton team and Salah had already “failed” at Chelsea.
Yet these signings proved that, if you are going to send your scouts to watch teams in the top divisions, at least don’t let them come back telling you how good Messi and Ronaldo are and what excellent signings they would be! Liverpool’s scouts did at least see something in a couple of players on which other clubs were reluctant to take a chance.
That, in itself, is unusual at a top club these days. The “instant success” nature of the game means that Europe’s elite clubs tend to scout Europe’s elite players. For that purpose scouts are not needed, what is needed is merely a TV set!
So Liverpool will continue to go from strength to strength which is very good for the game in the north of England. It is good to see the top three places occupied by northern teams with Chelsea and Arsenal struggling outside of the top four and in danger of missing out on Champion’s League football next season.
If Klopp can see off the challenge of Tottenham and secure third place for his team then, next season, he can set his sights on catching the Manchester clubs. It won’t be easy because they will both, undoubtedly, spend a lot of money but, then again, so will Liverpool.
Who will be the wisest spenders? That is the question and, up to now, Jürgen Klopp has proven to be up there with the best when getting value for money. We shall see!