Philippe Coutinho left Liverpool for Barcelona in January 2018 because he found that, when the Catalan giants come calling, you cannot miss that ship twice.
Months previously, the Brazil international had found his attempts to broker a move to Catalonia blocked by Jurgen Klopp.
But when Barcelona came calling again, armed with a massive £142million, Liverpool allowed him to go.
At the time, Klopp was torn. On one hand, he could do with the cash to free up funds that would later be spent on Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk.
But the Liverpool boss could also not risk keeping an happy player and one who, the day before the new season in 2017, handed in a transfer request.
Fast forward to now, and Coutinho’s future is again making headlines.
It is understood that Manchester United and Chelsea are both keeping tabs on the 27-year-old amid his troubles in Spain.
Four La Liga goals all season shows Barcelona are yet to reap the rewards from their investment.
And, as a result, they may sell him on at the end of the season. If Neymar is available from PSG, the transfer would make sense.
Amid all the Coutinho transfer talk, and there remains a section of Liverpool fans who would love to have him back.
After all, the Reds still need a No 10. Nabil Fekir did not join in the summer and Xherdan Shaqiri is nowhere to be seen.
But Liverpool are unlikely to take a punt this time round.
And that’s because of the transfer request he handed in before he did finally seal his move.
At the time, Klopp was privately furious. It was all smiles in the public eye but, behind closed doors, he was absolutely seething.
In his eyes, Coutinho had shown a lack of commitment by choosing to wait the day BEFORE the new season to push for a move.
So would he take him back now? Unlikely.
That gives United and Chelsea a major advantage when it comes to pursuing the Barcelona star. But whether they can lure him back to the Premier League is something only time will tell. And Chelsea also have the issue of the transfer ban to get around.
