Coutinho is like Oscar for me, shows up for 3 or 4 months a season. 

Theres no doubting his ability, but it would be a very expensive. 

I would much prefer Joao Felix. He's more suiited to play across the front 3, and his career is just taking off, rather than hitting a plateau or declining. I get the same vibes watching Felix, as i did watching Hazard at lille. Some players are just destined for greatness.

1 hour ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

Im not convinced we’ll even sign him based on his wages alone.

Hazard is on a pretty penny and we were willing to give him what? 300k a week plus?

2 hours ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

I dunno about that I think we have made the mistake of buying lots of mediocre players before, I believe the opposite but players that will instantly improve the squad, imagine courtinio or Barkley and kova, I’d rather have a courtinio standards player for double the price and have a youth player as his back up than 2 ok players that don’t do much 

Except Coutinho plays better on the left or as a #10. If the signing happens then we can either say goodbye to CHO or Ruben's progress will stop.

Much rather we spent the money on a WC Striker then sell Morata to fund a transfer for a LB like Telles. Our squad would at least go up a level.

3 minutes ago, Deino said:

Except Coutinho plays better on the left or as a #10. If the signing happens then we can either say goodbye to CHO or Ruben's progress will stop.

Much rather we spent the money on a WC Striker then sell Morata to fund a transfer for a LB like Telles. Our squad would at least go up a level.

With that point I do agree, I would rather have a top end striker, my main point is go for a game changer not a couple of decent players that won’t aprove our level, on my opinion a top striker and left back would make us contenders. 

However I’d still want a top winger and cho and pulasic can compete for the other spot and rotate I don’t think those 2 can carry a top club just yet although isn’t like to be wrong I think I’m a couple of years yes but not yet 

7 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Hazard is on a pretty penny and we were willing to give him what? 300k a week plus?

Coutinho is currently on something daft like £11 mil a year or something.

4 hours ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

Coutinho is currently on something daft like £11 mil a year or something.

£210k a week? Not that unreasonable tbf. 

Still don't want him though.

32 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

£210k a week? Not that unreasonable tbf. 

Especially when you remember Higuain is getting paid £190k a week. 

Don't see why a we shouldn't go for him - if he's available. Would be brilliant if we could get if for something like 50M + Willian. Doubt it though. With Barca getting Griezmann (Seems to be pretty certain) - they'll have some choices to make.

Either keep Coutinho as rotation for Griezmann - leaving Dembele with limited options (not to mention Malcom, whom I believe they're going to send on loan - or sell). Can't see why they'd swap out Malcom for Willian - and likewise with Willian/Coutinho - even if they get additional 50M. So it'll be difficult.

Sure, it wouldn't be ideal for CHO, Pulisic or RLC - but not really that big of a problem either. We need someone in the midfield that can either:
1. Split or open up a tight low-standing defence. Hardly what Ruben, Barkley and Kanté are doing the most. 
2. Create a threat from the distance, forcing opponent defences to push forward.  Barkley, RLC and Kanté will probably provide us with 2-3 of these goals per season at max. 

The upside is that both Coutinho and RLC can play in the midfield and on the wing. This gives us plenty of possibility to play both at once. With CHO being out - maybe until sometime around winter - we are in need of some better alternatives than Pedro and Willian. We can't know for sure what we'll get in Pulisic. He's only 20 - and can easily swap around with CHO when the time comes. 

I'd love to see Coutinho at Chelsea, if...
- We can't get a better option like Dybala. Or even Sané, who's reportedly been offered to Bayern. Not sure City will sell to us, though.
- His motivation is in top.  As some have mentioned he has a problem with falling out of games at times. 

To the one that mentioned Alex Telles - oh my, I'd like him at Chelsea. Not sure wheither it's just the league. Could Emerson  do what he's doing at Porto? The league is a lot weaker than the PL. When Telles was on loan at Inter, they had a chance to sign him for next to nothing, and decided not to. Then Porto came calling, where he has flowered again. There are lots of great possibilities though. Gaya, Chilwell and perhabs Alaba even. 

14 hours ago, big blue said:

Coutinho is like Oscar for me, shows up for 3 or 4 months a season. 

Theres no doubting his ability, but it would be a very expensive. 

I would much prefer Joao Felix. He's more suiited to play across the front 3, and his career is just taking off, rather than hitting a plateau or declining. I get the same vibes watching Felix, as i did watching Hazard at lille. Some players are just destined for greatness.

Let's not lie, the half season at Liverpool he had before joining Barca and the season before, he was brilliant for Liverpool. But that can happen when you go Barca, when you are surrounded by world class stars. Can be difficult for you to shine. Apart from pace, (not that he is a slouch), he has everything to his game and I think he would be a good signing for any PL team if he were to end up at them.

21 minutes ago, STATS said:

Let's not lie, the half season at Liverpool he had before joining Barca and the season before, he was brilliant for Liverpool. But that can happen when you go Barca, when you are surrounded by world class stars. Can be difficult for you to shine. Apart from pace, (not that he is a slouch), he has everything to his game and I think he would be a good signing for any PL team if he were to end up at them.

No lies, the season he moved to Barcelona, he had a slow start because he spat his dummy out over not getting his move, then he had a good couple of months. 

The season before, he had a good start, faded and missed a few games with injury, and then finished strongly. 

He's 26, and he hasnt a had anywhere near a full season of consistently performing close to his best. 

 

1 hour ago, STATS said:

Let's not lie, the half season at Liverpool he had before joining Barca and the season before, he was brilliant for Liverpool. But that can happen when you go Barca, when you are surrounded by world class stars. Can be difficult for you to shine. Apart from pace, (not that he is a slouch), he has everything to his game and I think he would be a good signing for any PL team if he were to end up at them.

Strength and defensive work rate are so important in a Sarri midfield three and Coutinho has neither of those. On the wing Sarri also likes pace, wouldn't fit there either. 

Coutinho isn't a bad player, but he would be a bad fit for us. 

48 minutes ago, big blue said:

No lies, the season he moved to Barcelona, he had a slow start because he spat his dummy out over not getting his move, then he had a good couple of months. 

The season before, he had a good start, faded and missed a few games with injury, and then finished strongly. 

He's 26, and he hasnt a had anywhere near a full season of consistently performing close to his best. 

 

Key point here.  If he was 23 or 24, I'd be fully on board.  If we actually are looking at buying an attacking midfielder (I assume that is where we would play Coutinho, don't see him at LW in Sarri's system), then there are better, younger options out there, and they could very well be cheaper (Fernandes or Milinkovic-Savic to name two).

20 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

Key point here.  If he was 23 or 24, I'd be fully on board.  If we actually are looking at buying an attacking midfielder (I assume that is where we would play Coutinho, don't see him at LW in Sarri's system), then there are better, younger options out there, and they could very well be cheaper (Fernandes or Milinkovic-Savic to name two).

Could is definately important to remember here. Coutinho was the absolute star at Liverpool. At Barca he's failed to deliver. Still, Milinkovic-Savic hasn't really been anything special this year. 

39 games with 5 goals and 4 assists across all competitions. He's been in the shadow of players like Lucas Leiva - and still, knowing Lotito, he'll be expensive. Very Expensive. 
- We're talking about a man, who's been out in public stating that he's refused a bid of £140M for SMS once. He's not going to let him go for cheap. And certainly not for the price you would assume Coutinho would be available for.

Fernandes on the other hand is a player which I really like. Sporting has been dealt with a great hand here though. Several clubs are after him as I've read - including Man City. He could easily end up costing more than the qouted £70M.

And who is really the better player?
1. Coutinho, who is proven in the PL, and who has been carrying Liverpool on his shoulders at times - which earned him interest from every single club in the world - with Barca being the one he wanted to go to...
2. Fernandes, who have enjoyed two brilliant years at Sporting - but was sold from both Udinese and Sampdoria for almost nothing, despite being young and talented? 

I know who I'd count on. With that being said, I do think Fernandes could really bring something as well - I think he's Man City-bound though.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Strength and defensive work rate are so important in a Sarri midfield three and Coutinho has neither of those. On the wing Sarri also likes pace, wouldn't fit there either. 

Coutinho isn't a bad player, but he would be a bad fit for us. 

That is a good point aswell, as brilliant as coutinho is on his day, he didnt really fit into klopp's team, because he lacked the physical capabilities to press effectively enough. He wasnt a good fit for Klopp, and he wouldnt be a good fit for Sarri. 

 

1 hour ago, mwblue10 said:

Key point here.  If he was 23 or 24, I'd be fully on board.  If we actually are looking at buying an attacking midfielder (I assume that is where we would play Coutinho, don't see him at LW in Sarri's system), then there are better, younger options out there, and they could very well be cheaper (Fernandes or Milinkovic-Savic to name two).

His age doesnt really bother me, i only pointed it out, because i think if he hasnt shown consistancy by now, then maybe he never will, which makes me skeptical about spending so heavily on him. 

I really dont think we need an attackong midfield. We have RLC, Barkley as a back up, and Mount coming through. The more pressing need is in the front line, so i'm hoping if we can spend big, we spend it on Wingers and Strikers.

1 minute ago, big blue said:

His age doesnt really bother me, i only pointed it out, because i think if he hasnt shown consistancy by now, then maybe he never will, which makes me skeptical about spending so heavily on him. 

I really dont think we need an attackong midfield. We have RLC, Barkley as a back up, and Mount coming through. The more pressing need is in the front line, so i'm hoping if we can spend big, we spend it on Wingers and Strikers.

Fair enough, though the point you are making is directly related to his age.  If he was a few years younger, we would chalk up his inconsistency to him being young and the hope would be that he would improve.  At 26 (27 in less than a month), he's pretty much the finished article.

I agree that we could probably get by with RLC, Barkley, and Mount, though if RLC has injury issues I hope very much that Mount is ready to shoulder a big load, because I really don't think Barkley is going to be up to the standard we need.

He was woeful for Barcelona against Liverpool. We need big players who will turn up when it matters most, not more inconsistent ones who go missing.

22 hours ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

I dunno about that I think we have made the mistake of buying lots of mediocre players before, I believe the opposite but players that will instantly improve the squad, imagine courtinio or Barkley and kova, I’d rather have a courtinio standards player for double the price and have a youth player as his back up than 2 ok players that don’t do much 

I agree on buying rubbish but Coutinho is awful business at 100m. 70m on Pepe and 40 mill on Telles wouldn't be buying cut price average players. Telles has a buyout and the Pepe fee is a lot of money. I think he would be worth it.

Our priorities should be upgrading the CF and LB first before making any Galactico-type signings

Unfortunately, if RLC is out long-term, it probably increases the chances of us buying Coutinho.

5 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

Unfortunately, if RLC is out long-term, it probably increases the chances of us buying Coutinho.

Add more depressing news on depressing news eh?

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Add more depressing news on depressing news eh?

Just trying some reverse psychology here

7 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

Just trying some reverse psychology here

Hopefully it works. Mason Mount is the answer to our RLC issue for next season, I hope.

Mount isn’t ready to replace RLC, I’d take Coutinho. He can take RLC’s spot while he’s out, and then go back to LW.

I agree about a striker though, clearly the most important.

14 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Mount isn’t ready to replace RLC, I’d take Coutinho. He can take RLC’s spot while he’s out, and then go back to LW.

I agree about a striker though, clearly the most important.

Respectfully disagree with you here, I believe Coutinho would lack a key element to cover for RLC, one which Mount will have in abundance, heart.

22 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Mount isn’t ready to replace RLC, I’d take Coutinho. He can take RLC’s spot while he’s out, and then go back to LW.

I agree about a striker though, clearly the most important.

If we sign Coutinho (and I really hope we don't) then I wouldn't want him anywhere near that LW position. He's not a left winger, he never has been. He's being played out of position at Barcelona and he looks awful for them.