Jurgen Klopp has a difficult situation to bring Philippe Coutinho back into the fold while maintaining his strong line of discipline.
It’s official. Philippe Coutinho is a Liverpool player and will be for at least a season. The club planted their feet in the ground and would not be budged on the issue. This despite a barrage of underhand tactics from all sides.
Barcelona did all they could. The Spanish media, desperate for the story to happen, manipulated all they could. The player handed in a transfer request and feigned an injury. Even Manchester United supporting British journalists tried to skew things. Yet they all failed.
This stance came right from the top. John W Henry, who rarely gets involved with the specifics at Liverpool, was himself adamant there would be no sale. However, I get the feeling that Jurgen Klopp wanted him to leave once the season started.
The German manager places great importance in the harmony and belief within the squad. Receiving transfer offers the day before huge games were deliberate attempts to destabilize that. It must have been very hard for Klopp to deal with Coutinho’s faux back injury as the player willfully chooses to miss some of the biggest games in Liverpool’s recent history.
Klopp’s conundrum
But here they are together. Coutinho is still a Red. With the injury to Adam Lallana and the failure to bring in Thomas Lemar, Klopp still needs him. So how does the manager play this from here?
Our previous experience with a disruptive player shows us that Klopp’s instinct is discipline. Mamadou Sakho’s Liverpool career was over the minute he crossed the line with the manager. Sakho was popular in the team and with the fans but that didn’t matter. Can Klopp be more forgiving this time?
The truth is he holds all the cards. The team is playing well and are scoring for fun without Coutinho in the side. However there are lots of games to come and we will need Coutinho sooner rather than later.
Because it is a World Cup year, there is real motivation for Coutinho to playing. He can’t afford to see out the next few months in the Under 23’s and leave on loan in January like Sakho did. He has to playing and he has to be performing. His place in the Brazil first team would be under serious threat. Not least by the surging Roberto Firmino.
Klopp will take his time. He won’t rush him back into the side, but nor will he banish him. He will allow the player time to repair some of the damage he has done amongst the squad.
The bigger problem is repairing the relationship with the fans. He will have to speak publicly about his recent actions. He will have to apologize. But what he has to do, above all, is give everything on the pitch. That first time he is given the privilege of wearing the Liverbird again, we need to see that he still give his all for the fans who pay him and supported him to his elevation as one of the world’s best players.
Next: Liverpool transfer window grade: Summary & Verdict
We most likely will never love him in the same way again. But do the business for the team and we can at least be friends.