Liverpool great Souness 'would snap Barcelona's hand off' for massive Coutinho fee

Joe Wright

Liverpool great Souness 'would snap Barcelona's hand off' for massive Coutinho fee image

Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness believes the club are wrong to reject huge offers from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho.

The Catalans are preparing to make a fourth bid for the Brazil international in the region of €140 million, having seen all other advances rejected by the Premier League side.

Liverpool 9/1 to finish top north west club

Such a deal would make Coutinho the second most expensive player in history, behind only Neymar, who left Barca for Paris Saint-Germain for €222m this month.

Liverpool insist that they will reject the fourth offer, but Souness has questioned the club's defiance over Coutinho as he feels Sadio Mane is a much more important player for the team.

"Players normally get their way at the end of the day and with the sort of cash that is being offered now, I'd be snapping their hand off," Souness, a three-time European Cup-winner as a player at Anfield, told talkSPORT.

HD Phil Coutinho

"That kind of money you can't say no to. Is he that good? For that sort of money you want a player that is a game-changer, the difference in big games, and I don't see him as that.

"Yeah, he is an attractive little footballer, he is neat and tidy on the ball, he wrong-foots people, he scores some wonder goals, but at that sort of level I would take the money.

"I don't see him being a [Luis] Suarez or a Neymar."

Asked which player he considers to be Liverpool's most influential, he added: "That would be Sadio Mane.

"Coutinho is six, seven goals a season. Does he turn up in the real big games? Mane is the man for me."

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.