5 Feb 2013

World Cup legend raves: 'Excellent' Coutinho can do 'great things' at LFC.

Last week, Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers described new €10m signing Philippe Coutinho as a 'wonderful talent' and a 'really exciting player', and Reds fans will be hoping that the Brazilian can live up to such a lofty billing when he starts playing for the club. Rodgers is not the only manager who rates the 20-year old though; In an interview yesterday, World Cup winning manager Marcelo Lippi also piled on the praise.

When asked about Coutinho's ability, Lippi - who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 - told the BBC:

"[Coutinho] is player with excellent technical skills who can do great things"

Lippi's comments echo the view of Lucas Leiva, who believes his compatriot will be a huge success at Anfield. He told ESPN:

"Coutinho is a very talented player, with a lot of experience for someone so young. He is a proper Brazilian with a lot of skill. He likes to play with the ball. He had a very good spell with Espanyol and I think he will be a great player in the future for us."

Inter Milan striker Diego Milito is another fan of the youngster, and last year, he enthused:

"Coutinho? He's a fantastic player. We all knew he was a bit special. The time in Spain has done him good. He's different to other players"

According to Liverpool Assistant Manager Colin Pascoe, Coutinho is no longer injured, and he's ready to go straight into the first team. He told reporters last Friday:

"He [Coutinho] has to sort a few things out in Milan but he'll be back next week and he'll be ready to start straight away and he will be a great addition to the squad".

Liverpool legend Tommy Smith sounded a note of caution over the weekend, and urged Coutinho to knuckle down and work hard:

"I hope our new young Brazilian Philippe Coutinho is very different [to Balotelli]. He’s clearly got lots of ability and potential. But he should get his head down, embrace our magnificent club and its fans, and give everything he has each time he pulls on a red shirt. If he puts Liverpool FC and the supporters first, not just himself, he can become a big hit".

Reds fans won't want to consider this possibility, but I can't help feeling that Coutinho may have been brought in as a potential replacement for Luis Suarez, who could - despite his protestations to the contrary - leave in the summer. It wouldn't surprise me if the club is planning ahead, and see the Brazilian as good panacea for pain of losing Suarez, especially if he turns out to be as exciting a player as Lippi et al make out.

In a recent interview, Suarez recently said he wants to stay at Liverpool for a 'long time', but he also hinted that he'd consider offers that came his way:

"The day a concrete offer comes for me to the club, we will sit down and do what's best for everyone".

The Uruguayan could've said 'the day a concrete offers comes to me, I will reject it because I'm happy at LFC', but he didn't. As a general rule, it's folly to believe anything footballers say in public (IMO), and I genuinely believe that Suarez will leave this summer if Liverpool don't make it into the Champions League.



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


75 comments:

  1. Lets hope we see him soon! and hope he is good...

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  2. I don't understand why he would sign a new contract/contract extension, if he knew he was leaving if he failed to make the champions league.

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  3. I'm not suggesting he's made his mind up yet, but footballers are fickle at the best of times, and if the club is way off the pace come May, you never know. Plus, signing an extension just pushes his value up even more. Contract extensions help clubs too, not just players.

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  4. With regards to what Tommy Smith said I don't think there are any similarities to Balotelli. The young lad appears to be from a good family and be very close to his brothers. I know this doesn't mean he will be an angel though. As for Luis, I think he is just being wise with his words, how does he know what will happen over the next few years? Sure he could proclaim eternal loyalty to the club but this would damage his legacy if for some reason he does go!

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  5. Just like you I've had the feeling that Coutinho might have been brought in as a contingency plan in case we couldn't hold on to Suarez. There are even rumours out there that Luis has a 40m buy-out clause in his contract. That surely is an amount that at least five European clubs could afford.

    As for all the praise those guys mentioned in your article have for Coutinho, lets just wait and see for ourselves what he can do.

    The comment Tommy Smith made sounds as out of place to me, as did Gerrard's and Rodgers' comments towards Sturridge when he signed. It's been a while since Smith said something I deemed worth noting.

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  6. Also Jaimie, I know it's off topic, but did I read at the top of the page that this website has had 28 million readers?

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  7. if this ten million pound player is suarezs replacment the next person on this thread who says fsg are doing well at the club can go f"ck themselves

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  8. The new contract also added to his salary. Would you sign a new contract if your boss offered you a pay-rise, even if you had thought about leaving your job? I would.

    Rumour has it that there is also a 40m buy-out clause in Suarez's new contract.

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  9. Yes, over it's lifetime. It's almost 29 million now :-)

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  10. This must be wrong. I have a new IP-address every day, so, over the course of say four years it should read 27,998,540.

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  11. talkingthroughurarseagain11:14 am, February 05, 2013

    listen d!ck nose stop pulling out your depressing bullsh!t about him leaving or whatever ur stupid opinions are, hes already said he will be staying numerous times the last week so lets put it to bed and go back to rafa bashing u tw@t.

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  12. You are soliloquising, aren't you.

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  13. I think anyone who won't consider the possibility that Suarez could leave is just being naive.  His messages have been very mixed & after Torres, I have difficulty trusting any footballer.  I also refuse to get emotionally attached to players since FT and am now resigned to see them come and go.

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  14. It's always been like that. Keegan left, so did Rush, McManaman, Owen, Torres, Mascherano, Alonso and so on.

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  15. That's f***ing crazy, and quite surprising Jaimie, well done. I think it's without a doubt the best LFC fan page around, let alone for any sports team. It's good to escape unintelligent dribble like you see on the ESPN soccernet comment forums...

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  16. I can see that Suarez going to Real Madrid if Ronaldo really leaves. Suarez can be a decent replacement for Ronaldo.

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  17. That's a good point. I'm still scared by the prospect of selling Suarez though- It's not very often top drawer, established players come along and want to play for teams not in the champions league. We were pretty lucky with Suarez in the regard. 

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  18. I'd try and go for at least 50 million. Suarez is definitely worth at least as much as a mis-firing Torres

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  19. Thanks for the kind words, Nick. Much appreciated :-) The visitors, and especially the commentors, make the site what it is though. I think people appreciate civil, intelligent discussion about football, as opposed to the usual playground stuff you get on most football sites.

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  20. No problem, but you must be really wanting someone to f***in' pay you after getting 28 million views

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  21. At least if Suarez leaves, it probably wouldn't be for another premier league team. Two reasons; I believe he has developed a certain loyal attachment that would discourage him from joining any other premier league team, and secondly, it would be a perfect escape from the British public and media.

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  22. god the amount of people who are happy to see our best players leave astounds me if suarez goes with gerrard coming to the end of his career fsg will have completed there mission on accustomising most lfc fans to expect second best who knows a couple more years down the line and these same fans will be happy to survive in the prem the shirts will still sell and you still will not be able to get a ticket,so fsg will still rake it in and before people say different we will be paying the same wages as sunderland paying the same kind of transfer fees,but with more money comming in fsg cannot lose and they know it

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  23. You've got to understand though, attracting established players of Suarez's quality is quite a rarity for teams like us lacking champions league football. We were very fortunate that Suarez wanted to come. I don't think the price should reflect Coutinho's quality; If he sets the world alight, FSG and Rodgers will look like geniuses.

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  24. Maybe we can swap with Real Madrid ;-)

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  25. on another subject see shelvey his having a sly dig at rodgers,the mans a bully,says one thing and dose another,he thinks hes god ,i bet when he leaves the sound of his ego bursting will be heard around europe

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  26. Suarez is worth twice as much as Torres, at least. But who, apart from Abramovic, would have paid 50m for Torres? It there's a clause in Suarez's contract, there's nothing we could do if someone offered that amount.

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  27. Didn't we think that, the first reason you give, about Torres, too? I did.
    You are right about the escape from the British media. That might be the driving force should he decide to seek pastures new.

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  28. if is a big world,but why sell your best players no excuse for that

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  29. Where are those people? I couldn't find one comment stating happiness in connection with Suarez leaving. If the player wants to leave, and that goes for any player, then let him leave. What's the point in keeping a player who wishes to be elsewhere?

    I also would like to question that anyone on here is happy with second best. Or that FSG are on a mission to make us accept second best. It would be absolutely stupid of them if they did that, because, as you have mentioned before, they may want to sell us on a profit at some stage in the future. Can you see that happening when we are fighting relegation? I can't.

    Furthermore, at least on the long run (say 5 years of fighting to stay up as a first approximation), I couldn't see us selling near as many shirts or selling as many tickets as now, should the gloomy scenario you paint in your comment come to pass.

    So far they, as far as I know, didn't take any money out of the club, so it's hardly coming money their way, isn't it. Also, there aren't any reports or anything else that would suggest that they take money out of any of their other ventures.

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  30. Who's ego would that be? Rodgers or Shelvey?

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  31. shelvey himself all over the web

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  32. If our best player wants to leave (again a big "if"), why not sell him. There'd be no excuse keeping an unhappy player.

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  33. "He said: "I played against Stoke and obviously I didn't have too great a
    game. I had a few personal issues that were going on in my life. I
    didn't think I was the only one that had a bad game that day but I was
    the one that suffered if you know what I mean."

    "You just have to take it on the chin and work hard in training and try
    to get myself back in the team which I'm trying to do," he added.

    Source: independent, and others

    I can't find the sly dig at Rodgers, though. He's delivered an abysmal display against Stoke, and while he wasn't the only non-performer, his performance really stood out, in a negative way. People would have murdered Rodgers had he put him on from the start the next match.

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  34. I don't know. The context of Suarez' attatchment is different to Torres'. Torres just liked the vibe of the city, and the club most of the time because he had career-best form here. Suarez has endured tough times in England with the media and non-liverpool public, but has continually been backed by the club, and especially by the fans, staunchly. I know Suarez would really appreciate this and take it in mind.

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  35. If Suarez doesn't hand in a transfer request, the club won't sell him. If he does, they won't risk having a player with his mind elsewhere while on the pitch.

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  36. I reckon they both have egos, but Rodgers doesn't strike me as a bully. He seems like a very hospitable man.

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  37. They surely backed him at Ajax, too, but eventually he has left to play in a stronger league. After all he is still a professional footballer and may want to win a few more medals.

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  38. Ive watched some videos of him wasnt impressed tbh, looked very average and nothing special but I have a friend whos a inter fan and he said hes very good, lets hope so and I think sterling and suso wont be too happy with that especially suso we will hardly ever see him now play unless in some europa games

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  39. It makes financial sense to sell suarez for fsg. The problem will ne for Rodger to replace him which will be a tall order.

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  40. You are completely correct anteater, but remember, I said Suarez would only join another league, and in that he did when he moved to the premier league.  He still has Italy, Germany and Spain.

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  41. Yeah neither, more like a sly dig at himself.

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  42. Haven't really seen Coutinho play since Rafa's time at Inter. Him and Etoo were the rare sparks in that Inter side of Rafa's. One of those players that likes to enjoy having the ball and taking players on. Will be interesting to see how he balances that with the system of Rodger's. But I suppose if Pochettino's Espanyol played the similar system, a team that Coutinho apparently did well in, that he uses at Southampton and then maybe that adds to the hopes that he will be a success. Will be looking out for what level of maturity his game is at, as that is my main concern over such type of players. 

    Seems Inter have already moved onto another young prospect, Kovavic, who made his debut already.

    Regardless of whatever PR Suarez comes out with to feed the world, there is always a considerable chance foreign player will leave. I would have thought after Torres, the majority would be prepared for this possibility.

    If he does leave, well we always got Carroll....
    He better stop getting injured and start scoring more, otherwise Hammers won't take him off us!

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  43. From the stuff ive seen of coutinho he,s hardly blew me away either mate, lets hope he hits the ground running like danny has, lets hope we do enough in the remainder of the season to keep king luis here, id be gutted if he left

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  44. Suarez may well be the difference in qualifying for the CL or not in the near future, so it probably wouldn't make much sense financially to sell him, given the amounts of money that would come our way if we qualified again.

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  45. To be fair, Suarez wasn't established or already proven to be a top drawer when he came to us. Only now he has elevated himself to that sort of status. Yes, he did great at Ajax but that is in the Dutch league, with all due respect, hardly one of the top leagues. He is also lucky that a big club paid that much for a player from the Dutch league. Works two ways, the luck. The fourth highest fee paid for a player from the Dutch league. Always perceived more risky to spend so much on a player from the Dutch league, than say from one of the top leagues. 

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  46. what makes you so certain if a 40 million pound bid comes in 

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  47. I thought this was an article about Coutinho? Ah no, no article without a sly dig at Suarez at the end.

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  48. He isn't Suarez replacement.

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  49. Also, no 1 player is bigger than the club.

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  50. nOOOOoOOO!


    We cannot lose Suarez! Jaimie! Take it back ;(
    I would like to say that I hope Coutinho can force Stewart DowningSyndrome out! Front line of Suarez, Sturridge and him will be crazy I'm sure! 3 intelligent players up front absolutely terrorizing defences... THis is the Liverpool I want to see!

    Downing = Downer! I feel he does the opposite of inspire the team in MOST games! For those crosses and apparent pace we bought him for, he's mostly useless...Squad player maybe, but Coutinho should force him out surely?

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  51. I think he'll take Downing's place on the right of the front 3. With Suarez on the left and Sturridge through the middle we're looking to now have a potentially lethal strike force. 
    Sturridge's partnership with Suarez is blossoming and, with Coutinho's added flair and attacking nous, the three of them could form the kind of attack which could propel LFC to great heights for years to come.

    As for Suarez's comments, he said he loved the club and felt at home here. I'll take it at face value for what it is and not 'read into it' like a mental paranoid pretend psychologist, mind reader. 

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  52.  ive heard it that skirtel had a barney with him in the dressing room after oldham ....that why he has been dropped

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  53. rogers is a bully ...not in a true sense of the word but a bully all the same...he picks his targets ......the way he has treated some players compared to others is a f*cking disgrace in my opinion

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  54. im pretty sure if a 40m bid comes in backed with 200g a week wages he will be off

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  55. That's hearsay, at best.

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  56. Luis might leave this summer, if not surely in next Jan, unless we are certain to be in CL for 14/15 season.  Therefore, I believe, Luis 'll monitor our movement in next June x-fer window & unless we bring 2/3 quality players to improve the starting XI, he 'll leave, either in Aug or next Jan.

    I would always love to keep him at LFC, but if someone comes with crazy money & Luis wanting to leave, I don't mind.  With around 50mn worth of his sale value, there are enough talented players to further strengthen the squad.  BR is building the team to play as an unit, rather than a Gerard-Torres, Gerard-Suarez, Suarez-Sturridge dependent individual show. 

    40mn+ plus is a good money to make the squad better without Luis, if spent properly; last time when we had the opportunity - incompetent manager & ignorant owners blew the 50mn.  Just see with part of that 35mn, whom NUFC had collected so far (& still fraction of that money is left).   

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  57. I would disregard everything said in public by footballers, agents, directors, managers, tea ladies etc.

    I hope Suarez leaving talk is premature, but I guess that Coutinho could potentially play the number 10 role Suarez did versus City.

    That is based on what I have heard and read about Coutinho, we will see how he settles soon.

    The £40 million Suarez valuation thrown about by the media is surely too low, based on Torres price, but who could realistically buy Suarez?

    Man City, Chelsea, PSG, Barca, Real, Bayern seem to be the only options.

    Bayern and Barca are the main threats in my opinion.

    Fingers crossed we can get at least one more season from Suarez to help us get back into CL. The financial lift from that point should help us push on without him if necessary......

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  58. This is all true, but just to be fickle, if you say that you can`t really believe to much a player says in public, this must surely go both ways, so that if he say he may leave, it also might not be to true. 

    Personally, I think there is a 50/50 chance on this one. I wouldn`t blame him if a top ranking team came in for him, and he did leave, as he has given us a few years, and so far, we haven`t really looked like doing much. The signings haven`t exactly been world class, and we appointed a inexperienced manager. Doesn`t really fill a top player with confidence I imagine.

    Note: The above doesn`t mean im personally not happy with some of our signings, I am. It also doesn`t mean I don`t like Rodgers, as I do. Just I can also see it from the other side.

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  59. buy out clause doesn`t mean he will leave though. Although as a club too we would have to give it serious thought, as in theory you could sign two really good players for that price, or you could do what we did with the money from Torres and buy Carroll mark 2 lol.

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  60. And if there is a clause, why would any club pay more.

    On a random side note, been hearing a lot about that match fixed game we won1-0, when they paid the keeper of the other team to make sure thry lost 3-0. Only we could win 1-0 on a game rigged so that we should have scored 3 haha

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  61. He was proven in terms of consistency and he seems to be hitting that again this season, which is great.
    I think your spot on about the luck, in both respects, hopefully it's something Suarez is aware of too.
    I could see him staying for 1 more season if we only narrowly miss out on CL, he's said a few times he likes the style of football BR's trying to implement (fickle me has even shut up about plan B in recent weeks).
    If we collapse and miss it by miles then I don't think it will be too much of a surprise if he goes

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  62. Spat my coffee out!!!!!!! 

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  63. They'll make more money with us being successful, having the best players that appeal to broader fanbases, they surely must know that also... I don't think shirt sales will remain high even in the midterm if we start to regularly end up in the bottom half of the table. I think it makes more sense for them to approach building us they way they have with a bit of caution now, no one really knows exactly how FFP will hit the PL and I think this season will be accountable somehow.

    Still, you are the grumpy mesiah and everything you say could be "nail on the head" if they intend to exit fairly quickly, before dropping shirt sales really effects the value of the club and brand. I really hope not but I'll be the first to carve a figurine of you if it does happen

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  64. Like the advertisers...

    Besides, I reckon I account for at least 4m of 'em (and should be given that slice of sweet ad revenue).

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  65. lol dont drink it when its to hot

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  66. totally m8 singles out the ones he thinks he can make scapegoats for his failings

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  67. Really says a lot about the state we were in. The rot started back then.

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  68. Yep, if the money is spent sensibly, it could even improve us. Not that I want Suarez to leave us.

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  69. GARETH BALE with the SUAREZ money if he leaves would be ambitious but realistic, especially if SPURS has no CL at the end of the season!

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  70. Yep, he was consistent in the Dutch league but for me, its two different things being consistent in a top league and being consistent in the Dutch league. So my implied point was that he wasn't proven to be consistent in a top league, prior to coming here. Afonso Alves was consistent in the Dutch league. Sorry, Boro fans, had to bring him up sooner or later!

    He deserves to be playing CL football, so I'd have nothing against him if he left this summer or the next. I agree with your point that if we miss out on it by miles, he could even go this summer. He needs to see progress, considerable progress. We're going in the right direction but can't afford to get slack.

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  71. Realistic, if Real Madrid want him, too? I don't think so.

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  72. Whoever BARCELONA and REAL MADRID wants it will very hard for any player to resist.But we wouldn't be competing for a South American.
    British players are more reluctant to move abroad than their foreign counterparts so I wouldn't completely rule it out.
    It's all ifs and buts let's see what happens in the summer.

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