Barcelona reportedly remain interested in Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho but would Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen actually be the better option?
Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the Premier League match against Leicester City.
The proposed transfer of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona from Liverpool was one of the biggest football stories of the summer, with the BBC reporting the Catalans had three bids for the midfielder rejected.
The latest of those was believed to be around £144m, but the Reds stood firm and Coutinho has now been reintegrated back into their team and has scored two goals in five appearances since.
Jurgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool, speaks to Philippe Coutinho during the UEFA Champions League group E match against Spartak Moskva.
Yet the rumours refuse to go away, with Catalan publication Sport claiming that the Premier League club remain open to the sale of the Brazil international next summer, or even in January.
It is widely believed, as reported by the Daily Mail, that Barca want Coutinho as a long-term replacement for Andres Iniesta, who is out of contract next summer when he will be 34.
However, are they targeting the wrong creative talent from the top tier of English football? Coutinho is undoubtedly a brilliant player, but in comparison to Christian Eriksen of Tottenham Hotspur he falls just short.
Christian Eriksen of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates scoring his side’s third goal during the Premier League match against West Ham United.
Eriksen is four months older than his Brazilian counterpart at Anfield and despite arriving in England six months after him, they have surprisingly played exactly the same amount of games for their respective clubs. Perhaps this is due to Coutinho’s increased proneness to injury, having missed 68 matches in his career to date in comparison to the Dane’s 11.
Eriksen’s record for Spurs is 186 appearances, 44 goals and 60 assists. Coutinho’s for the Merseysiders is 186 appearances, 44 goals and 38 assists. They are remarkably close, but the Tottenham man’s creativity edges it.
Not only that but Eriksen’s ability to operate a little deeper in midfield would seem to make him a better fit for Iniesta’s role than Coutinho, who has often played in a front three for Liverpool.
Fans in the white half of North London will want it whispered quietly, but perhaps the Denmark international is actually the one better suited for success at the Camp Nou.
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