Liverpool’s legendary former skipper Phil Thompson has been somewhat ambitious in his potential Coutinho replacement list.
Thommo, who now works as a pundit for Sky Sports having previously worked as Gerard Houllier’s Assistant Manager, has been discussing the possibility of Liverpool offloading the wantaway Brazilian.
Coutinho has handed in a transfer request and is desperate to leave for Barcelona, but Liverpool are expected to remain firm and refuse any offers for his services.
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Thompson reckons in an ideal situation we’d get the unhappy player out of the club for a whopping fee, so long as we can bring in a top level player in the 25-year-old’s place.
Like, Luis Suarez, Dele Alli or Sergio Aguero – for example!
He told Sky Sports: “The ideal resolution is that the club will leave it very late and get as much as they can for him. If he doesn’t want to stay then I’d rather see him sold for the best price, but the big issue is that there won’t be any players near his quality on the market.
“It’s probably too late in the window to get somebody in, so I think they’ll keep him for a season. Coutinho might argue that Barcelona won’t be there again but if you believe you’re a top player then a top club will always be interested.
“What they can do is try to find somebody out there, maybe even play Barcelona at their own game and say you can have Coutinho but we want Luis Suarez.
“Suarez might be unhappy with the Neymar situation. You don’t know whether a player is unhappy or a club are willing to sell until you ask the question.
“They could go after Dele Alli, who was a Liverpool supporter as a kid. Tottenham are a bit like Liverpool in that there’s always a price on a player.
“Sergio Aguero is another player that might be interested if he’s not happy at Manchester City, but it comes back to being late in the window and that is the difficult situation Liverpool find themselves in.
“Signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would be a start and would be available for the right money with his contract situation at Arsenal, but the club need to be ready to move if they do sell so we’re not caught short.”
Bar Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who we reckon will probably stay at Arsenal and run down his contract, none of the names Thompson mentioned will sign for Liverpool this or any other window.