Jurgen Klopp opens up on 'difficult' decision to allow Philippe Coutinho to join Barcelona

Posted Wednesday, April 08, 2020 by 101 GREAT GOALS

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has this evening discussed the protracted transfer saga which saw Philippe Coutinho depart the club for Spanish giants Barcelona.

Coutinho struggling

Following a lengthy back-and-forth between the clubs, Brazilian international Coutinho finally swapped Anfield for the Camp Nou in January of 2018.

The Blaugrana splashed out a reported £106 million on the attack-minded midfielder's signature, in what, at the time, was viewed as a major coup.

As has been widely-documented, however, Barca have not exactly reaped the rewards of their massive outlay over the years since.

Coutinho largely struggled to replicate his previous brilliance during his time in Catalunya, looking uncharacteristically bereft of confidence when donning the colours of the La Liga champions.

In fact, so badly did Coutinho falter over the 2nd-half of last season, that the Barcelona hierarchy came to the decision to farm the 27-year-old out on loan for the 2019/20 campaign.

Coutinho's time with Bayern Munich, though, has since also proven largely-underwhelming, with reports having hinted that the Bavarians are unlikely to take up their option to buy on the South American.

As such, with a Barcelona return looking altogether unlikely, Coutinho's future, at present, remains completely up in the air.

'We don't like it but we can do it'

While Coutinho's career has, on an individual level, taken something of a nosedive since his departure from Anfield, Liverpool, on the other hand, have of course gone from strength-to-strength.

The Reds have been to a pair of Champions League finals since the exit of their former star man, with a Premier League title also within touching distance.

This has inevitably seen many point the finger at Coutinho as having made his own bed, after the former Inter Milan man actively pushed to secure a move away from Merseyside two years ago.

One individual, however, who has nothing but respect for the decision taken by the Brazilian, is Jurgen Klopp.

Speaking earlier today, Liverpool boss Klopp confirmed that he had no issue with Coutinho making his desire to join Barcelona clear from the get-go, with the eventual call to allow the midfielder to depart the club having been a 'difficult' one:

I really respected Phil's switch from the first second,' Klopp told the Pure Football Podcast.

'Not that I do that all the time but it felt oh wow that could be difficult.'

'So it's not about yes we signed a new contract so many weeks before that but it was really clear he would not have asked me for any other club but for this club, there was no chance.'

'Then we had to be hard in the summer because we had no other solution. We lost Adam Lallana [to injury] in that time as well, we would have lost two players.'

'That's not possible, you cannot solve that on the transfer market.'

'He was open to that [staying] and that was really cool. Then you have to be fair in the window and say we can do it, we don't like it but we can do it.'