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Philippe Coutinho had admitted he harboured no regrets about departing Liverpool, despite reports suggesting he felt unhappy with Jurgen Klopp's handling of the situation. The 33-year-old left Anfield in January 2018 in a club-record £142million transfer to Barcelona.
Coutinho had netted 12 goals in 20 appearances before his move to Spain, marking his most prolific goal-scoring start to a campaign in his career. However, the pull of the Catalan giants proved irresistible for the Brazilian, who submitted a transfer request during the 2017 summer transfer window, only to be turned down by the club's hierarchy.
Whilst some players have been criticised for underperforming when pushing for a transfer, Coutinho did precisely the opposite. Yet the attacking midfielder reportedly felt disgruntled by Klopp's approach towards him, according to the Brazilian's family.
In a 2017 interview with Sky Sports News, a member of Coutinho's family revealed that tensions between the pair had been brewing for the previous six months. The close family member stated: "Philippe has tried very hard to find an amicable solution to this situation but to no avail.
"He has tremendous love for the club and its fans, but like Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez have pointed out in the past, Liverpool does not let its players leave on amicable terms." Despite Liverpool's insistence that Coutinho would not be sold, a January sale was eventually approved.
The Reds raked in over £130m profit on a player they had acquired for a mere £8.5m five years earlier from Inter Milan, who will host Liverpool in a Champions League match on Tuesday evening.
In the wake of his departure, Klopp said: "There was no other option; I would say it's a pretty easy answer. I don't know exactly how the reaction has been after that, but if there is somebody who maybe should be angry, massively disappointed or whatever in this case then it could be the manager of the club, with players leaving.
"But I'm not because I know we tried absolutely everything – the club tried everything to convince Phil to stay here and carry on going the way together with us and stuff like that. It is exactly like everybody knows – it was his dream and it's the truth when I say he left Liverpool only for one club and that was Barcelona.
"That was the moment when we really had to accept that. The club was fighting until the last second and really tried everything. That's the case. There was a moment when I knew it would come up again in this transfer window – and it came up massively – and it would then be very difficult if we had said what we could have done, of course, 'here's your contract and you have to stay here', to [then] use him as a player in the second part of the season.
"That is then a decision I had to make at one point, does it make sense? Do I think we can use him still? Can he help us still? To be honest, it was 100 per cent clear no chance. He was not ready to do that anymore."
That disagreement over his Liverpool future ultimately resulted in Coutinho's arrival at the Camp Nou amid sky-high expectations, but he struggled to find consistency, racking up 106 appearances across a four-and-a-half year spell in Spain whilst netting 25 goals.
During his Barcelona tenure, he was loaned out to Bayern Munich and Aston Villa before making a permanent switch to the Midlands outfit in 2022 when former Reds team-mate Steven Gerrard was manager.
Last year, he spoke candidly about his Barcelona transfer, insisting he harbours no regrets about leaving Liverpool. Speaking to Sport, Coutinho said: "No. At no time [does he have any regret].
"Things did not turn out as I imagined, as people expected, as I expected because I am the first to demand of myself on the field, I tell myself that I have to give more on the field. I tried everything, I have always been very professional and I don't regret anything.
"It was always my dream to play for Barça and I went there, I enjoyed it, I was able to meet many people, win titles and it will always be in the story of my life." When questioned whether he would alter anything about his career trajectory, he responded: "Nothing. I would not change anything.
"Going back is impossible, but as I said I don't regret anything, I always gave my best in training as I do here and as I did last year and as I will do next year. If things fit well, great and if not, patience."
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