Georginio Wijnaldum has adopted the view of most fans when discussing the Philippe Coutinho transfer saga.
The Dutchman has no quarrel with the Brazilian for seeking a move to Barcelona, but is delighted to have seen his teammate stay at the club.
Coutinho himself pushed for a move to the Nou Camp by handing in a transfer request, but saw his efforts come to no avail when Liverpool rejected three Barcelona bids and insisted the No.10 would not be sold.
“Normally if a player does something like that and he wants to go another club, then you will give him another hand and say, ‘good luck,’ because you did so many great things for the club,” Wijnaldum told Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday.
“But on the other side, because Liverpool also have ambitions, a team with Coutinho is better than a team without Coutinho, especially Liverpool.”
“Also on that side, we wanted him to stay, so it was a difficult situation, but we are happy that he is still here.”
“You always have to wait how he is going to settle in again because he was disappointed, so you have to wait how he is going to do it after that. But he did it great.”
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Coutinho wanting to fulfil a boyhood dream by playing for the Catalan giants wasn’t the issue. It was the manner in which he pursued the move that frustrated fans.
Liverpool’s star playmaker has since regained a lot of respect from supporters after returning to action in fine form and completely focused on life at Anfield.
Having failed with their efforts in August, Barcelona have been tipped to follow up their interest with another approach in the winter transfer window.