Liverpool midfielder Gini Wijnaldum has confessed that the squad found the summer speculation floating around Phillipe Coutinho’s proposed move to Barcelona difficult to deal with.
The Brazilian submitted a transfer request and was subject to three big money bids from the La Liga club, but the Reds refused to relent and did not sell.
Coutinho has now scored in three consecutive matches for the Reds. But Wijnaldum admits the squad was affected by the speculation, ““It was difficult,” Wijnaldum told the Liverpool Echo. “Phil is a really good person and we understood why he wanted to make the move.
“On one side we would have been happy for him if he could have gone as he really wanted to make the move, but on the other side as team-mates you want him to stay because you know with Phil because we’ll be better.
“There were two thoughts in your head. You can see it from both sides. Someone was going to be disappointed at the end of the transfer window and it was Phil.”