Former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho has made a plea on team manager Jurgen Klopp to give him another shot at the Premier League. The Brazilian winger, who is being offloaded by Barcelona, even offered to take a pay cut for Anfield to re-sign him. The offer should be considered in earnest by the club owners, according to a Reds legend.
John Aldridge, who wore the Reds jersey as a striker, called on his former side to take up Coutinho's proposal, saying the midfielder has proven he can do wonders for Liverpool in the past. Aldridge said Coutinho knows how to operate in England so he is likely to hit the ground running as soon as he back to the field he left in 2018.
The Brazilian pressed for a transfer to Barcelona midway in the 2017-18 season and a deal was completed in January. However, Coutinho struggled with the Catalan side and after only 18 months was sent to Bayern Munich on a loan deal.
The Bavarians have the option to sign the Barca man permanently but they are opting out, seemingly unimpressed by Coutinho's showing in the ongoing Bundesliga campaign.
However, it would be wise for Liverpool to swoop in on the chance to get the troubled playmaker back to the Merseyside, according to Aldridge.
"Despite his troubles in Spain, we are talking about a class player here who lit up the Premier League. He was a big hero of the Anfield faithful during his time at the club," Mirror reported the Liverpool hero as saying.
Aldridge added: "I think Liverpool should do all they can to bring him back to Anfield."
It seemed though that Klopp, who is known to have the final say on the matter, has made up his mind. The German boss did his best to prevent the Coutinho transfer deal from getting finalized but the manager appeared to have moved on.
According to Metro, hiring back the former Reds star is not a priority for the Liverpool coach. A swap deal for Coutinho is on the table but it will still cost the club £44.5million as demanded by Camp Nou, and Klopp is more inclined to spend that kind of money elsewhere.
The manager is unwilling to spend big on a single player, a position he has taken that is consistent with the explanation why Liverpool opted out of the race to sign Timo Werner, who ended up signing with Chelsea.
With Liverpool now out of his option, Coutinho faces the specter of dwindling choices for where he can play next. There are other Premier League clubs reportedly interested but most were turned off by the high price tag associated with the Brazilian.
