Liverpool’s battle to keep Philippe Coutinho is not only serious, but also being played out publicly.
The English and Brazilian press continue reporting details of the tussle every day, and there’s a few Brazilian details on Saturday.
Journalist Dassler Marques, from Brazilian website UOL, claims Liverpool becamse worried about the situation three years ago, when Philippe Coutinho officially became Kia Joorabchian’s client.
It’s claimed the representative has a controversial reputation in England, with famous cases such as taking Willian to have a medical at Tottenham and then the player signing for Chelsea, and also because of Carlos Tevez’s departure from Manchester United.
Liverpool’s board became upset with Joorabchian two years ago, when he kept insisting the club should sign Alexandre Pato. The player ended up at Chelsea, where the agent and his partner Giuliano Bertolucci have played a part in many deals such as Ramires, Oscar, David Luiz, Nathan and Lucas Piazon.
Although Coutinho’s wish to join Barcelona has always been clear, Liverpool never believed the player would be unprofessional. Manager Jurgen Klopp, who’s working hard to convince the Brazilian to stay, knows the midfielder would never refuse to train or play for the Reds.
So despite the back pain which ruled him out of the Premier League game against Watford, he’s expected to play in the Champions League qualifiers and work hard in training.
Coutinho is also said to have much gratitude towards Liverpool because the club trusted him and saved him from Inter Milan back in 2013.
That’s why the transfer request came out as a surprise for the club, according to the Brazilian claims. They still trust Coutinho’s professionalism, but didn’t expect this official request to happen. The story makes it clear that in this case, this is an action from the player and his representatives.
In one of the conversations in which Liverpool made their wish to keep the player clear, Coutinho’s camp was apparently told: “we won’t sell even for €500m’
Let’s see if they keep their word after the transfer request.
