Coutinho had a better goalscoring rate than Firmino who supposedly is "proving doubters wrong" in terms of his scoring ability. But then he's not going to be missed? Yeah right.
Coutinho leaves many gaps in the squad. Chamberlain has been OK but far from spectacular. He offers work rate, pace and versatility, but is nowhere near as good in many other aspects - no one in the squad had a better passing range and vision than Coutinho. And Coutinho has probably scored more Premier League goals in one season than Alex did in 8.
Chamberlain is another one of our players who is far better suited to a counter attacking system than he is against the deep defending teams. He doesn't have the extra bit of magic that Coutinho offered.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is the end of the world. I am disappointed to see another top player leave, and I can already see the "what could have been" type of posts when he starts showing his class in Barcelona. We're a bit like our feeder club Southampton in that respect. What could have been!
We're in a strong position to move forward without him though, and I sure have far more faith in the club to make wise use of that money than I was when Suarez left the club. We cannot compromise on UCL qualification this season. If Klopp is confident he can achieve it without a new signing, then so be it, but if he's not, then by all means spend it and spend it now. Only by becoming a regular UCL participant, and using the money that comes with it to then challenge for trophies, will we be able to stop that vicious cycle of losing our best players every couple of years.
I know "there was nothing the club could do", like there was nothing we could do about Torres, Sterling, Suarez? There's obviously something we can do in the medium/long term and it is not to let the situation get to that point where players have been at the club for years and feel their careers stagnating and start looking for more. And it starts with a good European run this season hopefully, and Champions League qualification once again.
Logged