The Brazilian made it clear in the summer that he wanted to join Barcelona after the La Liga made three attempts to sign him.

Liverpool refused to buckle to the player’s demands to the delight of the Liverpool fans.

But just six months later they yielded to the players wishes with Barcelona upping their offer to a British transfer record worth £142m.

The week prior Liverpool had welcomed Virgil van Dijk to Anfield for a club-record transfer to address their defensive issues.

Despite the astronomical fee Liverpool received for Coutinho, Carragher doesn’t believe Liverpool’s transfer business can be seen as positive having sold their best player.

“I think if you lose your best player there’s no way you can dress it up as a positive window,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ The Debate show.

“I think every Liverpool fan, when Philippe Coutinho stayed in the summer, thought ‘okay, we know he’s leaving next season. Lets enjoy this 12 months’.

“To lose him mid-season, I don’t agree with it but for that fee… Coutinho’s not worth that. He’s not that good.

“I would have took £20m-£30m less in the summer to know that Liverpool would have had him for the second half of the season because at that time we were still in the FA Cup, still a Champions League to play for.”

Coutinho was on course to finish with his best ever goal return at Liverpool having scored 12 goals in just 20 appearances before his transfer.

He made his debut for Barcelona in the Copa del Rey win over Espanyol last week, coming on as a sub to replace Andres Iniesta.



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