There may well be a lot of talk about Philippe Coutinho during these early stages of the January transfer window, amid interest from the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham and Newcastle United.
But, at this moment in time, the Brazil star is building up his fitness, with Leeds United’s Raphinha reacting to a number of images his fellow countryman uploaded on his Instagram.
BBC Sport have reported that a series of English clubs, including the likes of Villa, Newcastle and Tottenham are keen on the Barcelona star, who wants a return to England’s top-flight.
In the midst of all that, Coutinho posted images of him on the treadmill and working up a sweat, with Raphinha simply posting this message, ‘up the monster’.
Well, this ‘magical monster’, is edging ever closer to returning to the place where he made a name for himself many years ago.
It was in Liverpool colours that Coutinho wowed the footballing public, including building quite a partnership with a certain Villa manager in Steven Gerrard.
That resulted in him getting his big-money move to Barcelona, as well as winning the Champions League in Bayern Munich colours.
But now, Raphinha, may have competition because he might not be the only twinkle-toed Brazilian working his magic in the Premier League.
It does seem as though Coutinho will make a return, it’s just a case of where.
The Gerrard and Villa link is obvious, whilst the big pockets of Newcastle need a player of his calibre, then there’s Spurs, who two years after selling Christian Eriksen, still haven’t replaced him.
All those teams would benefit from having him in their side for the second leg of this season, and whoever gets his signature signed up, then his signing would be a statement of intent to their rivals.
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