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Hot football transfer gossip: Liverpool star Coutinho linked with Barcelona
Poor Liverpool. Things seem to have got progressively worse for the Reds since Steve Gerrard screamed that he wanted his team-mates to “go again” as they were seemingly galloping towards the Premier League title about 17 months ago. But then he fell over against Chelsea, then Suarez left, then Markovic arrived, then Lovren arrived, then Balotelli arrived, then Sturridge got injured, then they lost to Basel, then they lost to Besiktas, then they lost to Aston Villa, then they lost 6-1 to Stoke, then Sterling left, and then even Stevie G himself left. And then Jordan Henderson broke his foot and they drew at home to Norwich. Poor, poor Liverpool.
But throughout this fairly bleak period in Anfield history, there has been one ray of glorious light. One figure providing those long-suffering fans from Merseyside to Kent to Indonesia with a glimpse of a better future. One man who could bring joy to their faces and hope to their hearts with a mazy dribble, a slide-rule pass or a rasping 25-yard drive into the top corner. It’s good old Philippe Coutinho.
So you can imagine - or, at least, you can try to imagine - just how desperately upset these fans will be when they hear, via the Mirror sports pages, that their favourite Brazilian is a target for - you’ve guessed it - Barcelona. The very same Barcelona who are currently enjoying Suarez’s goals that they don’t even need. And sure, you can say it’s just the Mirror making things up, but for Liverpool fans it’s not so easy to dismiss such a terrifying rumour as mere “paper talk” when you’ve already seen Suarez and Sterling leave and Markovic and Lovren and Balotelli sign. This is how it starts. And Divock Origi. We didn’t even mention Divock Origi. Poor Liverpool.
The Mirror also reveals, rather late in the opinion of Hot Football Transfer Gossip, that Manchester United failed with a £29.1m bid for Lazio forward Felipe Anderson on deadline day. Almost in the same breath, the Mirror informs us that Dimitar Berbatov’s agent asked Man Utd - also on deadline day - if they fancied taking back the chain-smoking Bulgarian, to which they replied, “Of course we don’t.” What use this information is supposed to be to us three weeks later, we’re not sure.
Looking ahead, rather than backwards, Newcastle believe the answer to their problems could be Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette, who the Metro says could join the Magpies in January. The 24-year-old has gone 706 minutes without a goal for Lyon, so he’d fit right in at St James’s Park.
West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell is the latest left-back reportedly being lined up to replace the injured Luke Shaw at Man Utd, with the Sun claiming that Louis van Gaal is “pondering” a £15m January bid for the former Ipswich man.
And in happy news, someone has finally shown an interest in lovely Carlton Cole, the former West Ham striker who has been clubless for longer than he would have liked. Celtic boss Ronny Deila has revealed that the 31-year-old free agent will train with the Bhoys and try to impress them with his skills, reports the Standard.
