According to Le10Sport, Liverpool have increased the asking price for Philippe Coutinho to around £68 million.
There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Philippe Coutinho and what his future on Merseyside holds with the likes of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain reportedly interested in the Brazilian joining them in the future.
It’s really no surprise as Coutinho has been nothing short of his influential best this season with four goals and four assists in the Premier League, according to Squawka and he also has a goal and an assist in the EFL Cup.
As far as Liverpool fans are concerned, Coutinho has always been a player with no ceiling on his ability and the fact of the matter is that for players like Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres and Coutinho, they need to be playing at the highest level of the game and unless Liverpool qualifies for next season’s Champions League, which is looking hugely possible, then it will become increasingly difficult to hold onto Coutinho.
READ MORE: What will it take to prevent Coutinho from joining Barcelona?
The thing about the top players is that they want to be remembered for doing great things and very few players are memorable for doing great things with a midtable team which is what Liverpool has been for several years – bar the fluke of the 2013/14 season.
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Liverpool have raised the asking price for Coutinho to nearly £70 million to fend off interest from European giants like Barcelona and PSG, but with Jurgen Klopp leading Liverpool forward and towards a potential title challenge, Coutinho might not even entertain thoughts of moving abroad. Liverpool remains the mammoth of a club that it was in the eighties but there are issues in recent years that have meant signing the best players has been a near impossibility.
It’s encouraging that, if the report from Le10Sport holds any weight and it probably doesn’t, Liverpool are taking the initiative and aren’t waiting for Barcelona to lodge a bid and attract Coutinho’s interest. At the end of the day, however, if Barca coming knocking, there is very little Liverpool can actually do to sway Coutinho’s thinking. The weight behind having Messi, Suarez and Neymar in your team is huge for bargaining power.
Liverpool need to finish as high up in the Premier League this season as possible to ensure that players like Coutinho and Roberto Firmino aren’t tempted away by Europe’s finest.