It was a transfer saga that threatened to rumble on through the window, much like in the summer, but Barcelona managed to wrap up the signing of Philippe Coutinho in the first week of January. Having missed out on the Brazilian earlier in the season, the Blaugrana finally landed their number one target, even if it cost them £142m to do so.
Liverpool were reluctant to lose such a key player from their XI, but when a player has his heart set on a move away from a club, it’s difficult to convince him to stay and the Premier League side were no different. That isn’t to say Coutinho didn’t give his all before his inevitable departure. The 25-year-old scored seven goals and registered a further six assists in 14 Premier League appearances this season before his move to Barcelona.
He’s averaging move key passes (2.9) and successful dribbles per game (2.8) than any other Liverpool player in England’s top tier this term and it’s crucial they secure the services of a sufficient replacement in order to soften the blow of his departure. However, while Coutinho enjoyed a successful first half of the season, it’s somewhat interesting that Liverpool have a better win ratio without him starting (66.7%) than with him (46.2%) in the Premier League this season.
With Coutinho featuring from the off, Liverpool laboured to draws with Burnley, Newcastle and West Brom, but beat the likes Burnley, Stoke and Arsenal when he either started on the bench or wasn’t included in the squad at all. That isn’t to say that Liverpool are a significantly better team without Coutinho, but rather the Reds still had their struggles to break down staunch opposition even when he was included in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI.
For all of his talent, there are areas of improvement to Coutinho’s game. A pass success rate of 78.8% is room to work on and suggests that Coutinho was guilty of sacrificing possession and making the wrong decision when a better option was on. Of course, that could well have been down to Klopp implementing a fast-paced attacking approach built on robbing opponents of the ball and breaking forward at speed.
Indeed, Liverpool are averaging 57.3% possession and 83.5% pass success rate, both of which are below Barcelona’s respective returns of 61.2% and 87.9% and it’s likely that Coutinho’s pass success rate will improve as and when he returns from injury and becomes a key man in Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona XI. Having also scored more goals from outside of the box (14) than any other Premier League player since the start of the 2014/15 season, Liverpool will miss his goal-getting ability from distance, with his confidence levels always high when testing an opposition goalkeeper from 18 yards and beyond.
In conclusion, though, Liverpool did well to coax £142m out of Barcelona for Coutinho.
There is no denying that the Brazil international is a talented individual and deserves to ply his trade for one of Europe’s top teams, but they have overspent to secure his services. Klopp needs to act accordingly to bring in a suitable player to cover his exit, with an attacker to play in both a number 8 and number 10 role ideal, even with Naby Keita’s potential arrival this month, should Liverpool spend a premium to bring his summer transfer forward.
A technically quality link between the midfield and attack needs to be secured in order to replicate the offensive threat Coutinho provided during his five years at Anfield. It’s no wonder the likes of Thomas Lemar and Julian Draxler have been linked with a move to Merseyside as potential replacements for Coutinho, with the pair, among others, offering a similar attacking approach to the new Barcelona man.
Judging by Liverpool’s results when he has not started in all competitions this season, however, there are enough players available for Liverpool to target to ensure his departure isn’t as detrimental to the team as, say, Luis Suarez’s move to Barcelona in 2014.
