Rio Ferdinand claims reported Tottenham & Arsenal needs ‘saving’, says he’d improve both clubs

Follow us on Google Discover

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are clubs seemingly interested in Philippe Coutinho.

Rio Ferdinand has claimed on his personal Instagram account that Philippe Coutinho would ‘improve’ both Tottenham and Arsenal if he were to join them. 

The Mirror has claimed that Arsenal and Spurs are just some of the clubs interested in Coutinho’s services when the transfer window re-opens, with the playmaker currently on-loan at Bayern Munich from Barcelona. 

Since Coutinho left Anfield for the Nou Camp for a big-money fee, it hasn’t worked out for him and it does seem as though his career needs reviving. 

Ferdinand warned that he isn’t the same player he once was on Merseyside but he does think he needs ‘saving’ and Spurs and Arsenal could seemingly be those clubs if they are the ‘right’ fit. 

“Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool was an amazing player,” Ferdinand told his Instagram followers. “But since he has left Liverpool, he hasn’t really done it yet. He struggled at Barca. He struggled to fit in there and then he hasn’t done amazingly well at Bayern. I think he’s a great player. Huge talent. I think he needs saving. 

“Going to the Premier League to the right team is a saviour. He needs that – Would he improve Spurs? Yes, he would. Is he a Mourinho player? Have they got the finances to get him? I don’t know.

“Would he improve Spurs? 100% because people like Kane, Dele, Son etc.. would feed off him. Passing and probing. Lovely passer of the ball. Great change of direction. Great awareness and vision. A lot of the players who played with him say ‘he would always find me’. I think he’d be a great addition to the Spurs squad. 

“Arsenal? Would definitely improve them. But where does he play in their system? They’ve got Ozil. Is he somebody that they would like to see replace Ozil? I don’t know I like Ozil.” 

It would perhaps be too much of a risk pushing for Coutinho’s signature because of the amount of money Barcelona may want for his services. 

The Spanish club paid Liverpool £142 million for his services in 2018 [BBC Sport] and whilst he has stagnated, they’ll want large chunks of that back.

Therefore, he might not be worth the risk, especially considering both Arsenal and Spurs have shown in recent years that putting money into a highly-rated unknown talent perhaps works out best for them.