He didn't want to play for us, he was probably telling his teammates every day how he couldn't wait to get off.
Lad stopped celebrating goals bar the odd one. Was incredibly tedious.
Getting £142M for someone who could have effectively gone on strike seems the best solution for us which is all I care about really.
Had better results this season without him and reckon van Dijk can take over his free kicks.
He was a good player but he wasn't the messiah. And his song was sh*t. You get a good song if you're the bollocks.
More or less sums up my thoughts, besides calling him a c**t really
I had worried about his lack of celebrations, it was a far cry from the passion he'd shown in previous years. That celebration against City in 2014 was OUR Coutinho - the little jump and not smiling fist pumps of this season was already Barcelona's Coutinho. Say what you want about him still performing, he's certainly talented enough to be able to mail it in and still look good. Imagine if he'd actually been putting in 100% for us, we maybe would have won a few more? Who knows. There's certainly plenty of times I can remember a frustrating result and wishing he'd stamped his talented authority a bit more over the years. Maybe he'll do that for Barca, but he certainly wasn't a week in, week out performer here. Salah is already a far better week to week player for us, and Mane's time off last year also seemed to be a significant team barometer.
NOW I know that sounds like someone trying to okay themselves with the deal - it might be
- but I seriously think his role in the squad can be covered with the right recruitment and adjustments to the overall plan. Certainly his magic can't - Coutinho does have that little bit of something that makes him one of those individuals that has their "thing" and theirs alone. But if we do the right thing with the money, and do the right thing with what we have already, then the loss will not be felt near as much as the likes of Alonso leaving, or Suarez.
If the lad can be a part of a side playing as well as us, with the dynamic playmakers we have, and still wanna be off to Barca - then the semantics of the "perfect time" for him to leave is stupidity really. I agree, now is a sh*t time - but then everyone was shitting themselves with him leaving prior to the season starting, and we bought a few months to try and convince him. Even if he'd half arsed his way through the rest of the season, he would still be in the Brazil squad for the WC. Those trying to say we could have kept him and had he downed tools he'd threaten his spot - that's BS. Brazil would have known the score, he'd have picked right back up for them no worries.
Everyone who is bitching seems to want the old days back - what would have happened to a player pulling this sh*t under Shanks, Bob, etc? They'd be in the ressies until the first opportunity to bin them came. We gave the lad a chance for a couple more months, and then he got binned. For quality money.
Move on, get the next one in, restructure however needed in the meantime. We'll be alright.
And the lad is a F***ing loco son of a bi*ch. c**t. Bite me FA.