Joey Barton: Why Liverpool will struggle to keep Coutinho
“He [Coutinho] wants out, and if you’re getting up to what are they now, almost £120m, it just looks like how much rather than if or when," Barton told talkSPORT (via the Mirror).
The former Burnley, Rangers and Marseille man made some valid points about Coutinho, who is being lined up by Barcelona to replace the €222 million Neymar.
The 25-year-old Coutinho is set to cost more than €120m, however.
“He’s not a Scouser, he’s a Brazilian. He’s already living a fair distance away from home and he’s probably grown up wanting to play for Barcelona,” Barton continued, hinting that the Reds don’t have the same reputation as before.
"No disrespect to Liverpool, but that’s the club Brazilian youngsters grow up wanting to play for nowadays.
"It’s not the Liverpool of the 80s, it’s Liverpool who haven’t won a title for over 20 years, so you can’t blame the boy.
Barcelona had, admittedly, recently revealed that they were having problems, sporting director Robert Fernandez claiming that:
“Not just Barca but any team looking for top quality players are getting involved in a very difficult situation in this market. Why? Because the market is where clubs like us want to sign top quality players. There’s no buy-out clauses so that makes things trickier.”
@EdoDalmonte