James Pearce has told The Red Agenda podcast that Jurgen Klopp felt he didn’t have loyalty from Philippe Coutinho during his time at Anfield.
What’s the story?
Coutinho departed the Reds in January of 2018 to make the move to Barcelona. He has since played 76 games for the Blaugrana and is now on loan at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
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Pearce has been talking about the 27-year-old’s time at Anfield, and spoke about his relationship with Klopp. He said: “Klopp is an incredibly loyal manager but he expects that loyalty to come back the other way and I think he felt he didn’t have that with Coutinho. I think some people have short memories of how badly he behaved.”
Lack of loyalty
Indeed, it certainly looked as though Coutinho lacked loyalty during his time in Merseyside. Even six months before he eventually made the switch to the Camp Nou, there was speculation he was not putting in his full effort into training as he looked to push a move through.
However, sometimes we get a little caught up on the idea of loyalty. The Brazil international is not from Liverpool, and had played for Internazionale, Espanyol and Vasco de Gama before the Reds. He handed in a transfer request in August of 2017 as he looked to leave Liverpool, true, but even when that didn’t get him his transfer immediately, he delivered on the pitch.
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He went on to score seven goals and provide six assists in 13 Premier League matches, as well as five goals in five Champions League games. That is not exactly throwing in the towel.
As Liverpool sit top of the league table in England by 22 points, and with a Champions League title under their belt, it may now look like Coutinho made a mistake in departing. However, playing for Barcelona certainly had its merits – at the time they were the defending La Liga winners, whilst Liverpool had finished just fourth in the previous campaign. It hasn’t worked out, but you can’t blame him for wanting to join the Catalan giants.
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