Liverpool Legend Thinks Coutinho Should Have Shown Club More Respect

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes Philippe Coutinho was guilty of disrespect towards the club over the summer, as his signature was cased by Barcelona. Coutinho submitted a transfer request the day before the start of the new season to try to force the move through. Ultimately, the Reds held firm and Coutinho will stay with […]
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sambafoot_admin
2017-09-05 14:24:00

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes Philippe Coutinho was guilty of disrespect towards the club over the summer, as his signature was cased by Barcelona. Coutinho submitted a transfer request the day before the start of the new season to try to force the move through.

Ultimately, the Reds held firm and Coutinho will stay with the club for now, but Souness thinks Coutinho should have publicly expressed that he was going to stay, as speculation continued to mount during the opening matches of the season.

Souness told the Sunday Times, "I would have accepted an offer in excess of £100m for [Coutinho]. I know Paris Saint-Germain have paid £198m for Neymar and another £166m for Kylian Mbappe from Monaco, for his potential as an 18-year-old.

"But I would argue that for that sort of money they have to be game-changers on a regular basis. I would have taken Barcelona’s offer. You would like to think, given that the boy signed a five-year contract only in January, he would have some respect for Liverpool.

"The common sense way would have been for him to turn round, so it was coming from his mouth, and say: ‘I’ll stay another year.’ That would have been doing the right thing by the club and the club doing the right thing by him, as happened with [Luis] Suarez."