No clubs sell their biggest stars in January – so why have Liverpool?

Decision to transfer Coutinho mid-season – even for such a huge sum – was risky, made no sense and put the Anfield club’s Champions League place in doubt for next season

‘January is a difficult market to do business. No one wants to sell their best players.” How often do you hear managers say this? The winter transfer window comes with a warning – do not expect much; top performers are not available; it is the wrong time to buy and sell. Except, it seems, where Liverpool and Philippe Coutinho are concerned.

I cannot understand Liverpool’s decision to sell Coutinho now. Not mid-season. No matter how much I hear about boyhood dreams; efforts to convince him to stay; and how much family, representatives or even sponsors pushed for it, why this month? The financial reward is vast. So is the risk.

Liverpool are well placed to finish runners-up to Manchester City. They have a kind Champions League draw. The Liverpool team of January 2018 are superior to that denied last summer, the player layer and his agent must have expected cted he would be retained for the year. What changed?

I agree, the £142 million n fee is astronomical. The transfer r market is crazy, but for Coutinho to become the second-most expensive player in world football is extraordinary. He has become ecome an outstanding player, but he e is not the best in the Premier League, ague, as Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Luis Suarez were when they ey made their La Liga moves. He is behind Harry Kane, Kevin n De Bruyne and Eden Hazard.

But I still fear a mid-season son deal unnecessarily jeopardises Liverpool’s Champions League place for next season. If they do not t finish in the top four, everyone will point at Coutinho’s sale.

Imagine the fillip for Liverpool’s top-four rivals. If Kane ever leaves Spurs for Real Madrid, or Sanchez leaves Arsenal for Manchester City, their Champions League hopes will immediately diminish. The e frustration for Liverpool supporters is that every time me the club look capable of challenging enging for top honours, they become ome prey.

They finished second to o Manchester City and lost Suarez.

Before that, they came second to Manchester United and then en lost Xabi Alonso.

Liverpool are not alone in being forced to accept their place e in the football pyramid. Barcelona na and Madrid eventually get what at they want. Even Manchester United nited had to submit to Real when Ronaldo onaldo wanted out.

Losing stars is not a recent ent Anfield phenomenon, either. her. In 1977, the club sold Kevin Keegan to Hamburg for a record fee. In 1984, they sold their captain, Graeme aeme Souness, to Sampdoria at a time when Italian football was the wealthiest in the world. In n 1987, Ian Rush joined Juventus.

The difference is, they left eft with a sack full of trophies, Keegan an and Souness as European Cup holders, while Rush had won the League/ FA Cup double ea a year earlier.

Losing the player is not the biggest problem. It is when n they leave, what they leave behind hind them, and how well the void oid is filled that has been the greatest cause of Anfield stress.

Coutinho goes after five years without a trophy. For Fernando Torres, it was the same. Suarez won just the League Cup.

All left with the club craving a return to what they once were, having played their part in generating hope.

They got close, but then the rebuilding had to start afresh. That intensifies the dissatisfaction. You can accept and recover from major sales after a successful period, but not in the midst of reconstruction.

Liverpool dipped after the exits of Alonso, Torres and Suarez.

They panicked, believing they had to act to appease those who were demanding they reinvest.

Inadequate replacements, such as Alberto Aquilani, Andy Carroll and Mario Balotelli, arrived. The three managers in charge at the time – Rafa Benitez, Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers – were gone the following