Steve McManaman broke my heart.
Not so long ago I wrote a piece about how McManaman leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid had left me bereft for a considerable amount of time. No player since has even come close to that level of heartache.
Today (Jan 6th, 2018) Phillipe Coutinho’s move to Barcelona from Liverpool has been all but confirmed.
In my chest I can feel a numbness. I am not heartbroken. I am not angry. Not with the club. The £142 million fee is fantastic. Not with the manager. I can’t conceive how much Jurgen Klopp could do to stop the move. Certainly not with Barcelona, they have simply made a move for one of the most exciting players on the planet, as a club of their size should do. Nor do I feel anger towards to Coutinho. He spent 6 years at the club. I can never recall watching a game and feeling that Coutinho could have worked harder, tried harder, he always gave Liverpool everything he had. Some games the skills might not be coming off, the coordinates of the long shots might have been off beam, the cutting passes might have been blunt, but he was always looking to make things happen.
And when they did happen the results were breathtaking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j71-F9xeDTA
The Coutinho cliche has been that of the magician. Cliches are generally utilised for a reason. They are true. Since Steven Gerrard ended his Liverpool career the talisman mantel was passed to Coutinho. He became the player most likely to make the difference. As time passed he lived up to it, being at the heart of numerous comebacks (Dortmund) and wonderful team performances. Even producing late winners with stunning long range strikes (Stoke).
There is no doubt Liverpool will miss such an exciting and productive performer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EVk23E-tyM
As well as slight numbness there is also a hollow space. I can feel it high in my chest and touching the back of my throat. This is not another McManaman though. With Steve McManaman there was no tomorrow. The sun would never rise again. It was all so pointless now. Now there was no Macca. The magic dribbler had gone. Now another magic dribbler has gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qC3fwjYzrk
Even though Coutnho has gone, even though a world class player has gone, there will still be a tomorrow. Perhaps Steve McManaman taught me that. Or perhaps the difference lays in the circumstances.
As brilliant as Coutinho is this 2017/18 season Liverpool’s reliance on his sorcery has waned slightly. The presence of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah is a continued cause for optimism. As wonderful as the “fab four” were they did not actually all play at the same time that often due to a combination of factors, in the main injury and tactics. Having that quartet of players on the pitch together will rarely provide enough balance to combat quality opposition.
But when they did play together. Oh my.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMJW3R-KEIA
That was were magic truly happened. The combination of these four players, with their intricate, sharp, fluid play, was mesmeric. It is not the loss of Coutinho alone that has generated an empty feeling, it is the fact that this glorious foursome will not be able to produce any more memories. And memories are all we will have.
Instead Coutinho will reunite with Luis Suarez. The two were together when Brendan Rodgers was at Liverpool and an infamous Steven Gerrard moment contributed to the Premier League crown remaining absent form the Liverpool cabinet. As well as Suarez there will be a footballing icon on his side, Lionel Messi. Add to that the return from injury of Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho will be forming a new “fab four”.
He just won’t be doing it for “us”.
For as special as memories of brilliant footballing moments are, they are never as special as when they are for the team you support.
What of Liverpool now? They are certainly not a team without hope, nor a club without resources. The eventual capture of Virgil van Dijk for £75 million is as clear an illustration of that as is possible. The Coutinho deal is generally believed to be over £100 million up front, plenty of spending power to bring in a direct replacement, should that be the avenue they follow. Who such a replacement would be is a game of speculation, albeit a fun one. A signing that is not speculation is that of Naby Keita, a player of excellent qualities. Keita is due to join in the 2018 summer. The Keita speculation is whether he can be brought in sooner? We shall all wait and see.
How Liverpool replace Coutinho is a game that others can play. The papers and social media will be crammed with items on that topic until such a signing is made.
There will also be fire and fury.
What there should be is gratitude.
For Coutinho’s graceful brilliance should not be allowed to be forgotten. Too often fans move into a red rage of betrayal. It is their career, they only get one. As fans we are fortunate, we get hundreds. We can live that progression. Liverpool lived it with Coutinho. From an undersized, slight boy, picked up for a paltry £8.5 million from Inter Milan. One who some fans with their ear to the ground would have heard of as having great potential but the majority would have asked “who?”. Liverpool saw glorious development. He became a player who could take control of a game, appearing all of the pitch to bring sparkle to an attack that appeared to be going no where fast. Every free kick was a genuine opportunity to score with him on the park. Opposition defences could be parted at any moment by a genius pass or GIF creating dribble.
With Coutinho there was always hope, even when there appeared to be none.
So thank you for the journey.
Thank you for the brilliance.
Thank you for the hope.
And thankfully that hope remains.