Liverpool midfielder Gini Wijnaldum has admitted that the Philippe Coutinho transfer saga was difficult on the squad. Barcelona reportedly made Coutinho a priority summer transfer target and viewed him as a replacement for Neymar who joined PSG for a World record fee.
The Catalan giants ended up making three bids for the Brazilian all of which were rejected by the Reds who were adamant that they would not sell at this point in time. Coutinho was keen on the move and handed in a transfer request.
Following the failure of the move to go through, there was talk suggesting that Coutinho would not be committed. However the 25 year old appears to be giving off his best and appears to be one of the better players for Liverpool since he returned to action.
Wijnaldum has now admitted that the whole saga was difficult for the squad and said, “It was difficult. Phil is a really good person and we understood why he wanted to make the move.
“On one side we would have been happy for him if he could have gone as he really wanted to make the move, but on the other side as team-mates you want him to stay because you know with Phil because we’ll be better.
“There were two thoughts in your head. You can see it from both sides. Someone was going to be disappointed at the end of the transfer window and it was Phil.”
