PHILIPPE Coutinho
I don’t want to play in China or Spain. There is only one club for me
BREAKING news from the North West this past Wednesday: a footballer who is not interested in China. Or Barcelona. A brilliantly gifted playmaker, arguably the most creative force in the league. Philippe Coutinho is staying with Liverpool.
OK, so the rest of the day and the positive narrative was spoiled by a 1-0 defeat by Southampton to rule out a Wembley final next month but this was a ‘statement’ announcement, according to Jurgen Klopp, when negotiations were swift and a record deal speedily agreed.
It’s easy to see why when in the company of a young man so shy he blushes when attempting to put his words into English, although he is anything but bashful with a football at his feet. And he loves his uncomplicated life on Merseyside.
This is an interview without explosive threats or boastful predictions. Asked to explain himself as a footballer, he stops the conversation to find out what ‘playmaker’ means.
Once it is explained, he says sheepishly: ‘I don’t like to talk about myself. I don’t want to talk about what I do, what I think I do. The position I play on the pitch, I am expected — and I expect — to create chances for my team-mates and score goals.
‘The No 10 shirt? Yes, I understand what it means in Brazil. The icon number. Yes, it’s important. It is the number given to a creative player and I am happy to have that responsibility, but it is not your shirt number that defines you, it is what you do with a football.’
Two losses this week — to Swansea in the Premier League and Southampton in the EFL Cup — have diluted his pleasure of returning from injury, although he says here: ‘We have to put those results behind us and return to our best form quickly.’ Wolves will find out if that happens in the lunchtime FA Cup kick- off today, with successive domestic cup defeats unthinkable.
Liverpool are heading towards where they expect to be, but Coutinho could have been tempted to wait until the end of the season to commit, in order to monitor their transfer ambition and confirm their Champions League participation next season. But he is certain with his response to the idea.
‘No need to wait. I know. I live this every day, I can smell it. I see the ambition of the club, my team-mates, the manager. I am living it, seeing it. Wait to sign? No. No. Now is the right time.
‘I understand what Liverpool means. We can say Dalglish, Rush, Hansen, Souness, Suarez, Gerrard. I’ve been here quite a few years already, it’s not like I am new. I understand.
‘To have signed a new contractt at this club, my goal is to be thought off one day in the same way as these players. They are legends. You define the success of a player by hiss loyalty or his titles. Or both. Inn order to be part of this group, I have so much to do.
‘I want to win titles. Five years is my new contract . . . it gives me that opportunity.’
His contract is a commitment off some scale at a time when there iss plenty of transfer money available and many of his agency stablemates have departed for the great haul of China.
This idea elicits a brief answer. ‘China, no. I am not interested. I don’t think about that, not for one moment. My football is here. Myy heart is here. I don’t think about any other club. Not at all.’
Courted by the Spanish media, Coutinho, 24, was front-page news recently when Sport reported: ‘ Objetivo Coutinho’ and insisted he had ‘Barcelona DNA . . . a Braziliann of pure talent’. He is aware of the noise, but shakes his head to denyy the appeal.
‘I believe in finding somewhere you can express yourself, play without fear, play with everything you have. When you find that place, stay. This club, Liverpool, it has a plan. To be back on the top and that’s what I believe in. I want to be part of that.
‘From the owner, the manager, my team-mates. There is nothing that stops us competing with the big clubs. Clubs in England. Clubs in Europe. Europe Yes Yes, clubs like Barcelon aBarcelona. Why not?’ He repeats the question a second time.
‘This is a great club. I remember how helpful everyone was when I first came to England, like a family. They made me welcome, comfortable. They removed any obstacles, they allowed me to think first about football and second about football. I remember that.
‘For certain, I am comfortable herehere, my family is comfortable herehere. No doubts.’
The only time there was discomfort was when an ankle injury ruled him out from November until early January.
‘Oh I did not like that at all,’ he said. ‘Anfield is a great stadium, the people there create amazing noise and support — but I did not enjoy the experience of watching from the stands. It made me sad. I
wantedw only to play and I don’t wishw to experience that again.’
Central to his feeling of belonging isi the need to feel ‘at home’. A grey day on Merseyside hardly compares to Carnival time in Brazil but there canc be few South Americans who have felt quite so at ease in COUTINHO’SEngland since Ossie Ardiles.
house, a 15-minute drive from the training ground, is packed with friends and family, cooking pots boil in the kitchen and there is warmth in his words, even though he still insists: ‘I am sorry, my English, it’s not good . . . ’ It’s good enough.
‘This place is never empty and this is how I like it,’ he says before returning to play table football. TThere are super-hero posters on his walls and he wears a Nike T-shirt with the words: ‘The Off Season — It’s On’. His wife Aine and daughtter Maria are happy to smile for our ccamera.
Back on the pitch, with Chelsea disappearing into the distance, it seems Liverpool must compete with Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United for the remaining three Champions League places, but the suggestion is met with a frown.
‘It’s a tough league, yes. You say Chelsea win the league, but we are giving up on nothing,’ he insists. ‘We
have to fight for the title, this season and the next season.
‘We had a setback against Swansea and Chelsea are a good team. I like Eden Hazard and Willian, they are the hardest opponents, but that is the ambition of our club too. We have to fight for the best, compete and continue to compete. That is what this club must demand from all of us. That is why I am here.’
He has noted the Champions Wall at the entrance to the training ground, a reminder of Liverpool’s history — their 18 titles and five European Cup wins. All before Coutinho arrived from an unhappy spell at Inter Milan in 2013.
Since then he has burst into the Brazilian team, where he has six goals in 23 senior appearances. As with Liverpool, there is more to come. Now he has the platform.
‘There are two parts to this decision (to sign for five years): first the ambition of the club and then my family . . . they are with me.
‘Every player here is treated well. The club supports us and allows us to focus on the football. Not just me, everyone. Nothing special for me. There is a structure to help.
‘When a new player comes, especially from abroad, they have a team to support the wife, the family. When I go to play, I can concentrate and play. It is professional, professional like a big club.’
Typically, his home has a giant screen and a games room, but he does not spend hours watching football. ‘I am not obsessed,’ he explains. ‘I don’t watch lots of matches. I like to play,lay, to be part of the English game.
‘The qualities of England? Intensintensidade (intensity)! Yes, always. That is the word I would use to explainain to people in Brazil. And then fast, st, the ball never stops, the rhythm m and speed. Aggression? Yes, but intensiensidade more.’
Which bring us naturally to Klopp, a man who has made a big impression. Coutinho has to have ve Klopp’s ‘ Heavy Metal football’l’ style from Germany explainedd with punches of fist in hand before he says with a smile: ‘I don’t know this phrase . . . but I know what I see.
‘The main thing I love about this is manager is that he doesn’t do things for the sake of it. He explains ains everything, give us an understandnding of what and why. It creates an enjoyment. He will be a success here, 100 per cent. I have total confidence ence in that.’
He is pleased too to see Steventeven Gerrard has returned to the clublub to work with the development squad. ‘He is my favourite player since I came to England,’ says the little Brazilian.ilian.
‘I learned a lot and I loved to seeee how he understands and organises a game. It is incredible. He’s a big influenceuence and personality, his presence nce around the club. I am happy to see him back. I hope he can share are in the success we strive for. He taught me a lot.’