Roberto Firmino said it would be “awful” if his teammate for both club and country, Philippe Coutinho, were to leave Liverpool and join Barcelona. As of now, Coutinho has officially submitted the formal transfer request, Barcelona are very keen to spend big bucks on him, but Liverpool leadership maintains that he’s not for sale.
It’s a stalemate of stalemates, and it’s resulting in the player himself not being mentally fit to play, because the distraction of his very transfer saga hangs in the balance and overshadows everything else. It’s very much like David de Gea two summer ago, in the Manchester United-Real Madrid transfer tug-of-war.
Jurgen Klopp has said that Coutinho “cannot play for Liverpool” currently. Coutinho did not make the trip for Liverpool’s road leg on their UEFA Champions League play-in tie. They’ll kick off in a few hours at Rhein-Neckar Arena, where they’ll take on Hoffenheim. The home leg at Anfield is eight days later. Perhaps the Coutinho situation will be resolved by then.
Meanwhile Roberto Firmino is feeling a lot of distress, because he believes that his playing with Coutinho at the club level, facilitates their success in partnership for the Brazilian national teams. For Firmino, Coutinho to Barca would be a big double whammy.
“I prefer to not think of this [Coutinho leaving] because it would be awful. He’s a great player but also a great friend to me,” Firmino said. “It is normal that great teams are interested in his football but my concentration is now on the team.”
“My objective is to win cups with Liverpool so I can enter the history of this club.This season is a special season because it is World Cup season. From childhood, I had the dream to play the World Cup.”
“To be selected to the World Cup, I need to have my best season with Liverpool. (Brazil boss) Tite is a coach who rewards hard work at clubs.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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