Coutinho Heading Back To The Premier League?

After two unsuccessful moves since his time at Liverpool, Brazillian forward Phillipe Coutinho could be on his way back to the Premier League, but for which club?

Phillipe Coutinho really burst onto the scene when he joined Liverpool from Inter Milan 2013. For just £8.5 million, Liverpool fans weren’t really sure about what they were getting with the Brazilian.

It was in his second season at the club he really made a name for himself at the club. Liverpool finished second that season to Man City. Coutinho was one of their main attacking players and chipped in with some vital goals.

As the seasons went on Coutinho became the main man at Liverpool, with many big clubs around the world interested in signing him. He was awarded Liverpool’s player of the season in 2014/15 and 15/16.

In August 2017, Barcelona bid £72 million for Liverpool’s Brazilian playmaker but it was rejected. This lead to Coutinho putting in a transfer request, much to the fans disappointment as they didn’t want to see him follow the path of Suarez in joining Barcelona. Coutinho never got his move and stayed at the club.

Unfortunately for Liverpool fans though, the move materialised in January and he left for £142 million to Barcelona. Liverpool that year went on to get to the Champions League final, however, after bringing in Van Dijk.

At Barcelona, Coutinho struggled with just 13 league goals in 53 games. This lead to a loan move to Bayern at the start of the 19/20 season. Again he struggled and returned eight league goals in 22 games. Bayern are thought to not be interested in making the loan permanent. Coutinho’s agent has since said he is interested in returning to the Premier League where he played his best football.

Where to next?

Surprisingly it is not his former club Liverpool who are said to be in for him, but Chelsea. They are currently priced at 5/6 to sign the forward from Barcelona. Chelsea has already agreed on a deal for Hakim Ziyech to join them this summer also.

Lampard’s side had had a transfer ban imposed on them so will be looking to strengthen this summer and Coutinho could be the ideal man. With players such as Willian and Pedro out of a contract that would free up some money to bring him in.

Barcelona are reportedly trying to sign Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan so will need to offload someone to generate money to bring him in.

Coutinho found himself starting on the bench a lot at Bayern but still got 15 goals and assists in 22 games. This shows there is still a lot left in the forward and he would be a great signing for anyway if they can get the best out of him.

Liverpool are priced at 6/1 to bring him back but Barcelona would want to recoup a fair amount of their money back from Liverpool for him. The transfer fee could put the club off.

PSG are another potential option at 11/1. They aren’t short of money and are full of great players which could attract Coutinho.

Paddy Power have odds available on a lot of other clubs to sign Coutinho as well as where other players could be heading this summer.