Philippe Coutinho gets a lot of love here in the Transfer Tavern, with Liverpool fans often hailing him as the best attacking midfielder in the whole of the Premier League, which, of course, gets rival fans’ backs up!
However, there’s a feeling that the Brazilian may well move on in the not too distant future among Kopites, who have seen the same happen to Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling in recent memory, even though the former Inter Milan ace penned a new contract over the winter.
And it seems that the club are already plotting for his future exit, with Marseille’s 19-year-old sensation Maxime Lopez having revealed that he’s been approached by the Merseyside club and told that he could have Coutinho’s place.
Although the date of this proposal is not given by the player, it’s reasonable to assume that it was not too long ago given the l’OM man’s tender age.
Speaking to L’Equipe (translated by Sport Witness), he said: “They said to me: `In five years you get Coutinho’s place!’
“They approached me in a good way. I even met Steven Gerrard at the stadium after a game.
“I wanted to go there, but also to stay at OM. To go like that, at this age and even with your family, is very hard. I had noticed that they had thirty young professional players, not to mention the incumbents. You really have to be mentally prepared.”
Lopez is a diminutive attacking player who stands at just 5ft. 5” and has been capped by France’s U-20 side.
Will Philippe Coutinho leave Liverpool this summer?
