KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Is Coutinho on strike or really injured?

I think the question needs looking at.

Has Coutinho downed tools and is refusing to play?

Or has he really got a bad back?

I had a uncle off work for months with a bad back, have Barca got a ingenious cure for bad backs which would get Coutinho fit if he signs for them.


Will his bad back get better after September if he stays with us.


Or is he a ungrateful little cur getting paid over 150k per week and refusing to play for us and subsequently acting like a spoilt brat?


Your views.

Swingin' the lead, no doubt in my mind at all.

Probably been told he's not being considered due to his disruptive behaviour at present.

Probably best for us that he's on the sides at the moment. It's showing us the we can cope without him, but also that we do need to get someone else in as well... or perhaps put Firminho in that position.

Having said that, I might not feel the same on Wednesday and next weekend against Arsenal.

I'd put him on the bench. Just leave him there and make him pick up the water bottles and stuff.

Klopp is leaving him out because he brings a negative vibe to the group. He should be on the bench after the window closes either at Liverpool or Barcelona.

I believe it's a combination of things - Barcelona have told him to tout the bad back so he doesn't play and get injured for real - Klopp doesn't want him around the team because he's currently a destructive influence, he did the same thing to Sakho. FSG also don't want him to play whilst a potential goldmine transfer is in the offing.

This next week and a half is going to be very interesting to see play out. Barcelona have created this situation in trying to get Coutinho on the cheap, offering BS bids with ridiculous add ons that are nigh impossible to come to fruition. FSG I'm certain would take an outright cash bid of 120 mill and I think Klopp is resigned to this fact. Aside from all this mayhem we must still try and get other players in.

Well according to reports Barca have given us til the end of today to accept the offer or they'll drop their interest. Not the best negotiating tactic when the other club has stated continuously that the player isn't for sale.

He missed games in pre-season with a sore back, before the bids were made public, so I think it's possible he is injured.

The bids are public now, so Klopp could just say he was not selecting him as his head is not in the right place to play if he wasn't injured, if he comes back from injury, I would not expect him to play for us until after the window has closed.

I think he's not 100%, whether he is suitably injured not to feature is highly questionable.

As for Barcelona's strategy. As far as I read and believed it, the deal was £114m guaranteed, with £70m now, and the other £44m spread over 5 years, with an additional £5m in potential add-ons that wouldn't likely come to fruition.

Why would we accept that? They're unsettling our player, they're playing both him and Dembele for fools and making them dig their feet in to force moves. It's worse than what we did with Van Dijk, at least he went back to training, and any "inopportune" conversations only registered interest and clarified where he would feature. He's being isolated right now because he said he's not 100%. Maybe Klopp has been told the same by Coutinho, but then saying he's "injured" isn't really necessary then.

The whole thing screams of desperation, and I believe they'll come in with a bigger fee to try and force it over the line. Rumours it'll be an extra £10m on top of the previous deal. If they guarantee a payment closer to 90 or 100m up front, I think we'd take it. It might be the money we need to sign a replacement and bring in a couple of targets (VVD and Keita aside).

This is all very interesting this window. It could explode into life this coming week.

The problem is if we sell him now we only have about a week to get players in, I can see us selling him and not bringing anyone in, which is the worse case scenario as the team is weakended.

If FSG/Klopp know they intend to sell and we are just holding out for the best price (nowt wrong with that), then we should be prepared for that by going out and bring players/his replacement in now, while we have time before the window shuts.

Mahrez looked good yesterday, we should go get him, also test Tottenham going for Eriksen, he's be the perfect replacement for Coutinho.