Everton ready to ‘table bid’ to sign ex-Reds star
Are Everton contemplating a move for former Liverpool star Phlippe Coutinho? Well reports relayed to us to by the Echo claim the answer is yes.
They are carrying a story that Everton are prepared to put together a £40 million bid for the Barcelona player who has fallen down the pecking order at the Camp Nou.
This story originally comes from Marca in Spain who claim that Barcelona and ex-Blues boss Ronald Koeman is ready to let Coutinho go in the summer.
A rumour linking the Brazilian to Everton is yet another highly speculative one and it does seem a real stretch that the Toffees would make a bid for the former Liverpool star in this summer’s transfer window.
Coutinho was an outstanding player at Anfield and it was a bit of a surprise when he was sold to the Catalan giants in January 2018 although the fee, which was around £105 million, was a huge one and obviously very persuasive.
Coutinho moved to Spain and while he had an up and down time there Liverpool went on to win the Champions League and Premier League in successive seasons.
As I think would be the case for most Evertonians I think it’s extremely unlikely the Brazilian will be moving back to Merseyside to turn out this time for the blue half of the city.
More from Prince Rupert's Tower
- Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
- Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
- Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
- More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
- Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions
This will especially be the case if Coutinho’s fellow South American James Rodriguez continues to make a major impact and does sign a new contract extension as the two are quite similar players.
Both are outstanding technicians and enjoy operating from wide and drifting inside or playing more centrally.
Everton it seems are ready to offer Rodriguez a new contract and I would think it is probable that the Colombian will opt to stay for longer than his current contract, if he’s offered that chance.
Rodriguez seems happy enough being back with Carlo Ancelotti a manager he hugely admires and likes. He has also been in fine form generally although he has had a few injuries, not unexpectedly given his history of such problems.
His technical skill, imagination, vision and range of passing are on another level to anything seen at Goodison Park for a long time.
The key issue though is how best to integrate the brilliantly talented but fragile South American into a team that also needs to have enough pace, power, athleticism and strength to succeed in the highly competitive Premier League.