Philippe Coutinho’s Barcelona torment is over for a season after he completed a loan move to Bayern Munich.
Just 18 months ago the Brazilian completed a ‘dream’ £142million transfer to Barcelona from Liverpool, putting pen to paper on a five-year contract with the Catalan giants.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp had been desperate to keep hold of Coutinho, who was at the time the Anfield club’s best player, but eventually agreed to let him go.
Before Coutinho headed off to Spain, Klopp sent the Brazilian a warning.
“Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour,” said the Liverpool boss.
(Image: Bayern Munich /Twitter)
“Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more.”
There was much excitement at Barcelona following Coutinho’s signing, but the Brazilian failed to hit the ground running and his struggles continued.
By January he was linked with a move back to the Premier League, and by the summer he was openly admitting his struggles in the press.
“I have not had a good season. My performances have been a lot worse than I expected they would,” said Coutinho.
(Image: Bayern Munich /Twitter)
“The only way to improve and gain confidence is through hard work, and I have been working hard.”
Coutinho’s agent ruled out a Premier League return for the Brazilian, before it emerged Bayern Munich were taking a look at the midfielder.
Addressing the situation, Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde said: “It is a situation that last season when the league ended the player had it in his head.
“This [the Bayern move] has come up, he has accepted and hopefully he is lucky.”
(Image: Liverpool Echo/Colin Lane)
Coutinho has finally completed his loan move to Bayern Munich, setting the German club back €8.5million (£7.7m) for the season.
But will the move put an end to his turmoil?
(Image: Sportimage)
It is interesting to note that Bayern Munich were one of the three clubs name-dropped by Klopp in his initial warning to Coutinho.
Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez suffered a similar fate to Coutinho after the excitement following his transfer from Monaco died down.
(Image: Getty Images)
Rodriguez was shipped out on loan to Bayern Munich, but with the benefit of hindsight this hasn’t rejuvenated his career in the way he hoped.
Coutinho will no doubt be feeling relieved, but his problems are far from fixed.
