It has been a wonderful journey for those from A Liverpool Persuasion. Over the past decade, the Reds have transformed from just a team Premier League A laughing stock of one of the most authoritarian groups on the continent.
Jurgen Klopp He conquered English football and gave the Anfield team sixth place UEFA Champions League Title too. He has made Liverpool an amazing and attractive unit and left the team in perfect shape for someone like him Arnie slot To come and take control.
Now, with Manchester City still spinning and Arsenal and Chelsea not much to impress, Liverpool are early favorites to win Europe's top competition in 2024/25 and sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League having played a game less than second-placed. Chelsea.
Life is good, but it could be better in the coming months and years. It is important to understand that the Merseyside club is technically in its first edition, in its nascent stage. Slott inherited a wonderfully talented crop, but still injects his teachings into the club.
Let's pause for a moment and remember the last time Liverpool were in their early stages as an elite-level team. Back in the 2017/18 season, they broke free from mediocrity and returned to the Champions League, and what fun Klopp's side were.
When Klopp's Liverpool were pure… fun
This was the year Liverpool suffered heartbreak in the final stretch of Europe's elite club competition, and it may have seemed like a once-in-a-generation missed opportunity, but Klopp's youth rebounded to win the title a year later.
However, the 2017/18 season was one of exciting and astonishing moments, as Klopp created an iconic team but has yet to turn it into something sustainable. Although it came in a mustache.
Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino were playing out their first spell as a trio, and although they went on to achieve great things over a number of years, there was a remarkable period with… Philippe Coutinho Located in the back.
The Brazilian playmaker has been at Liverpool since January 2013, when he left Inter Milan In a deal worth 8.5 million pounds sterlingFor a while, he stood as the only bright spark in a gray world before Klopp.
with 54 goals and 45 assists In 201 appearances for the Redmen, he was a true talent, a beacon of hope indeed, but Coutinho has saved his best for the final few months.
presence Transfer request submitted In August 2017, with Barcelona lurking, rejected by Klopp and his staff, he then played with a frenetic intensity that elevated Liverpool to a position as one of the best attacking teams on the continent.
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Philippe Coutinho: English Premier League statistics 17/18 |
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|---|---|
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Match statistics |
# |
|
Matches (start) |
14 (13) |
|
Objectives |
7 |
|
Helps |
6 |
|
Passing accuracy |
79% |
|
Key passes* |
2.9 |
|
Quirks* |
2.8 |
|
Interventions* |
1.2 |
|
Total duels won* |
5.6 |
|
Statistics via SofaScore (* = for each game) |
|
When Coutinho left, it was very devastating, but the Blaugrana He broke the English record with £142 million To bring the magician to Catalonia, where he has never reached the same heights.
Liverpool then had the resources to turn Klopp's project into something capable of not only dazzling in moments, but offering tangible paths to brilliant prosperity with a consistency that fans could not have dreamed of only months earlier.
Klopp described Coutinho Regarded as a 'genius player' during the early phase of his tenure, he did not prove indispensable and was in fact the perfect sale for a rising team.
Why was the sale of Coutinho such an incredible success?
You can sum it up in a simple sentence: the amazing financial gains filled Liverpool's coffers to the brim.
With Michael Edwards and Klopp still divorced and estranged towards each other, Liverpool have been able to identify and pounce on targets deemed capable of taking the club to the highest level of European football.
Southampton's centre-back was Virgil van Dijk He signed a deal worth £75 millionIt is a world record for a defender, in January 2018, and Roma goalkeeper Alisson Becker He arrived the following summer for £67min the wake of the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid that ended Loris Karius' career at Anfield.
Intelligent recruitment has been key throughout Liverpool's successes in the past decade, but it is clear that without Coutinho being sold for such an astonishing sum, the same heights would not have been reached, as the Reds would have been forced to settle for fewer parts per game. one area or another.
Just imagine a world in which Van Dijk stands in Chelsea blue, Playing for Londoners After Liverpool was unable to act on its own interest.
How about imagining a Champions League scene with Alisson Becker between the sticks of Santiago Bernabeu? Real Madrid rejected in favor of Klopp's Liverpool.
None of these horrific possibilities proved to be anything more than paper talk. Talk about a watershed moment. The framework for Liverpool's prosperity over the past eight years is built on the sale of Coutinho, arguably the most important part of the transfer since Klopp's arrival.
Liverpool could have relied on Coutinho, now 32, for a moment of magic, but they found something better in the players welcomed by the money raised from his sale.
As for Coutinho, he certainly has regrets. Despite winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich and two La Liga titles with Barcelona, he has truly failed to match the impressive form he showed under Klopp's wing, having now been on Aston Villa's books for the past several seasons.
However, the Brazilian has spent the last few years on loan, with Al-Duhail in Dubai and now Vasco da Gama in his homeland, now worth just £5m. According to Transfermarkt.
Liverpool appear to have hit the jackpot at the right time with this one, not least because the significant drop in their market value has made them worth less than a player sent off by Slot. Wataru EndoHe is 31 years old and… Worth 11 million pounds sterling.
The fact is that even aging endo – of He looks set to leave in January – Worth more than Liverpool's record sale is evidence of their decline, and the playmaker may be wondering what might have happened if he had never left Anfield behind.
