Coutinho gone. 142m

[Mystic]

I know it is a bit contrary to what seems to be the general opinion but I reckon a fee in excess of £140m is more than fair for Phil.
He would become the third most expensive player in history while debatable he probably isn't even the best in his position in the Premier League.
Ask any neutral and they would probably put De Bruyne, Hazzard and Ali at least on a par if not above Phil.
That said I would sooner have it that he wanted to stay but if he goes for that figure then I think we will have done reasonably well. Replacing may be difficult but I have a lot more confidence that our current regime can do that sucessfully than I would in previous ones
The only fly in the ointment is that the touted figure of £140m seem to be more what we are prepared to accept rather than Barca will offer.
I am not convinced that they won't continue to try and get him on the (relative) cheap perhaps hoping that Coutinho will force through a move this time round.
So I wonder if we have actually played this whole game rather well up to now, outlining a generous but not outlandish fee for Coutinho, which means that Barca either stump up the cash or failing that we hang on to a player that we can reasonably point out to, that we were not the obstacle to his ambitions.
Time will tell I guess.

Third? Who's second? £150million is my acceptable figure. Needs to be clear daylight between Phil and Dembele.

 

[Red Bird]

Any credible news, save for the old reports out of Spain?

 

[Jack D Rips]

Ballague says that Barcelona will announce Coutinho early next week, although Liverpool have yet to agree to any deal with them.

Presumably this means that if Liverpool continue not to agree any deal with Barcelona, then Barcelona will not be able to announce Coutinho early next week.

 

[tombrown]

He's already driving on the wrong side of the road, then

EDIT - and how the fuck is that "left"????

 

[dmishra]

James Pearce saying today that it's up to Klopp to sanction the move.

That seems to suggest that FSG are ok with the reported price, which really is disappointing.

We should be demanding 150, with at least 130 guaranteed up front.

 

[Insignificance]

James Pearce saying today that it's up to Klopp to sanction the move.

That seems to suggest that FSG are ok with the reported price, which really is disappointing.

We should be demanding 150, with at least 130 guaranteed up front.

It means they are ok with the offered price. The reported price is Lazy journalism and it might as well be wrong as right.

 

[Zlate]

More han happy with 140mill for Coutinho.

Mahrez, Lemar would add depth and be able to fill the void in my opinion.

 

[Oliver Twist]

James Pearce saying today that it's up to Klopp to sanction the move.

That seems to suggest that FSG are ok with the reported price, which really is disappointing.

We should be demanding 150, with at least 130 guaranteed up front.

Not worth £140? But worth £150m? Though I do see what you're saying, the figures bandied about are just insane and essentially arbitrary. As long as we invest in adequately replacing him, does it matter if he goes for £140m or £150m? And whether it's £100m or £130m up front?

But, if he does go this window, can we really adequately replace him? It would really appear unwise to let him go now. An agreement to go in the summer should keep him happy, surely.

 

[Atlas]

Reading the article that was put up a few pages back.
Kia is his agent, same agent as Mascher, same kinda lame tactic as Mascher to drive through a deal to Barca.
Same agent as Alex Teixeira who we figured we had signed and sealed only for him to go to China, where obviously Kia has lots of links and contacts.


May well be receiving some not so good advice from his agent but it worked in the past

 

[HC]

Demand a summer move and get lemar or whoever in now

 

[Mors]

Ballbag says they want the move this month and not the summer, because that's good for us and not good for barca and the rat! Ha! Asfuckingif

 

[Frogfish]

Balague says Barcelona are under pressure from their players to get the deal done in January, and that waiting until the summer will only benefit Liverpool.
"Discussions between clubs are taking place about the price right now. I think contracts are being written. The figure Liverpool will start considering is 150m euros (£133m), and Barcelona will be willing to pay even more as they want this to happen. Barcelona will want to announce it next week.
"Barcelona will go as far as it takes to bring Coutinho now. The squad are putting pressure for that to happen - it is the kind of quality the team needs to keep winning titles.
"Both Coutinho and Barcelona want this sorted now. They don't consider the possibility of agreeing now for the summer. That scenario only benefits Liverpool, it doesn't benefit Barcelona or Coutinho."

 

[Woland]

 

[keniget]

We all keep saying the same things but you can't help it because it feels so maddening.

I don't know what kind of pressure we're under from players / agents / whoever, but Barca themselves set a precedent with the Dembele transfer.

It's the Jan window - you pay through the nose to get this kind of player now.

 

[Judge Jules]

Tell Arselona if they offer £150 mill.up front he can go now. Otherwise he goes in the summer and if they don't like that they can bugger themselves bandy. We'll see what he thinks if they refuse.

 

[StevieM]

The questions we need to ask are :

What would Man City do if it was Barca chasing de Bruyne?

What would Chelsea do if it was Hazard?

Tell Barca to fuck right off.

 

[Oliver Twist]

The questions we need to ask are :

What would Man City do if it was Barca chasing de Bruyne?

What would Chelsea do if it was Hazard?

Tell Barca to fuck right off.

We're not in those clubs' league. Trophies wise (our ability to challenge for the major ones) or wages wise. If we were, our players' heads wouldn't be turned so easily by Barca and Madrid. Or even City and Chelsea themselves.

It's the grim reality that we can't compete financially with them.

Still tell Barcelona to pick off, mind. Though they are only part of the problem. Coutinho is the other part.

 

[hmmmmm1]

Assuming ballbag is right, the 130 million offer is for a summer transfer but could rise well beyond that for a transfer this window. All depends if we can get replaced in

 

[KopRed]

Assuming ballbag is right, the 130 million offer is for a summer transfer but could rise well beyond that for a transfer this window. All depends if we can get replaced in

The Lemar deal looks like a bitch to seal. Mahrez's could be simpler. But the entire football world knows of our current situation, we would be fleeced off all the money we will get from Cuntinho, and then some.

 

[HC]

Balague says Barcelona are under pressure from their players to get the deal done in January, and that waiting until the summer will only benefit Liverpool.
"Discussions between clubs are taking place about the price right now. I think contracts are being written. The figure Liverpool will start considering is 150m euros (£133m), and Barcelona will be willing to pay even more as they want this to happen. Barcelona will want to announce it next week.
"Barcelona will go as far as it takes to bring Coutinho now. The squad are putting pressure for that to happen - it is the kind of quality the team needs to keep winning titles.
"Both Coutinho and Barcelona want this sorted now. They don't consider the possibility of agreeing now for the summer. That scenario only benefits Liverpool, it doesn't benefit Barcelona or Coutinho."

The actual fuck?

A sale shouldnt benefit the seller, it should benefit the product and buyer ?

I loathe Barcelona.

 

[Hansern]

We cant really discuss a fee and wheter or not its disapointing when nothing has been agreed yet.
Barca are supposedly willing to pay 106+36, but we all know they will go higher then that.
Lets just wait and see.

If Klopp sanctions a move now, its simply because he feels the team is better off without the little rat and his toxic behaviour.
And We're getting replacements.

I'd rather sell him this summer mind, but that doesnt look possible now.

 

[Rosco]

Liverpool's record with Coutinho (6-6-1 & 30-15) in the PL is worse than our record without him (6-1-1 & 20-10) and we didn't win a single match against the Top 6 with him but without him we did beat Arsenal 4-0.

CL record is similar, with (2-3-0 & 20-6) and without (3-1-0 & 10-4).

As can been seen he isn't a critical cog in the machine despite his fine performances overall. Of course I'd prefer to have him, we have a settled attack and integrating a new player (e.g. Mahrez or Lemar) isn't ideal but with one of those two plus VVD I think (hope) we'll be a stronger team overall in the remaining 16 games of the PL.

To take this a step further : If I was put on the spot and asked why our record is better without him (and actually there could be many factors involved and it might not be so simplistic as this) I'd say that we are better defensively as he contributes little to nothing in that regard. Looking at the goals for and against per match over all the matches with and without; with 2.78 vs 1.17 and without 2.50 vs 1.17.

So not much in it, maybe the extra goals come from matches where we have annihilated the opposition ; Spartak 7-0, Maribor 7-0, Swansea 5-0, Bournemouth 4-0, Brighton 5-1 all matches he played and scored in. And I don't think it's a weak argument to say we would have won all of those without him anyway.

Just like Suarez

 

[6TimesaRed]

 

[Skullflower]

He's our Alonso right now. And the effect of him going will be similar.

 

[Khalido]

He's our Alonso right now. And the effect of him going will be similar.

We're going to buy Aquilani?

 

[peekay]

I think we might also have one eye on convincing future players to sign for us or for existing players to extend their contract while negotiating the Coutinho transfer. Maybe Can's refusal to extend his contract is affecting our approach also?

While I agree that Barcelona should be paying 175-200 million for us to even consider this, it is more important to make sure we have the time to get in the right replacements. No point in getting 200 million on the last day of the transfer window.

 

[hmmmmm1]

The Lemar deal looks like a bitch to seal. Mahrez's could be simpler. But the entire football world knows of our current situation, we would be fleeced off all the money we will get from Cuntinho, and then some.

We knew about this situation in the summer and I just surprised (or am i?) that we didn't close a deal for a replacement earlier for courtinho. The writing was on the wall in the summer, Barca weren't going to go away.

 

[keniget]

It's not about them going away, everyone knew Coutinho was going to go. I just don't think anyone really expected it to happen in Jan like this.

I'd rather we wait till the summer to sell but if we are going to get rid the price needs to reflect the fact that this will likely fuck our season.

Generally speaking, I'm pretty gutted (never learn) about the prospect of him going. He gives our team star quality and I love watching him play.

 

[Rafiagra]

If we sell now, it has to be at a premium as January is always a sellers' market. Also, we can only sell if we can bring in someone we want in return. No panic buys.

 

[Hansern]

Monaco now open to letting Lemar leave in this window According to L'Equipe.