Journalist that first reported on Firmino to Liverpool in 2015 now says Jurgen Klopp wants to sign magician

Earlier today, we covered what seemed like yet another link between Liverpool and Philippe Coutinho yet with a little digging from the Anfield Talk, it seems to have more credibility than first thought.

Let's paint a 7-year-old picture, shall we?

In 2015, Philippe Coutinho was in Chile with the Brazilian national team competing at the Copa America tournament in the summer.

He was 22 at the time and beginning to show the world that he could be world-class as a no.10 although playing under Brendan Rodgers was holding him back but we won't get into that right now.

Roberto Firmino, 23 then, was a Hoffenheim player at the time but he was representing Brazil that summer too. Until Ian Ayre pulled off a miracle by jetting off to Chile and sealing a £29m deal for the then attacking midfielder.

Why is this relevant now and why should you care?

It's relevant now because Marcelo Hazan reports that Liverpool want to re-sign Coutinho and you should only care if you want to see the midfielder return to Anfield.

He reports for GOAL Brasil that Everton, Liverpool and Aston Villa are all keen on bringing the now 29-year-old to the Premier League and the Brazilian doesn't want to return to his homeland but would prefer a move to England.

But why is it relevant that Hazan reported this and why is Firmino involved?

Well, Firmino isn't involved.

Not really.

Marcelo Hazan first reported on Bobby's move to the Reds in 2015 and so that speaks to his reliability regarding transfers and while it's still very unlikely Coutinho ever moves back to Anfield for a myriad of reasons, we thought this was relevant.

H/t to the Anfield Talk for finding the old link as well.

Reports also indicate Aston Villa want Coutinho

EDIT: Strong links have surfaced between Villa and Coutinho with it looking likely that Steven Gerrard will take former the Liverpool star to Villa Park.

Coutinho returning to Liverpool would essentially be like a loan

Signing Coutinho, after selling him for £142million, would essentially be like a loan and if he is willing to accept lower wages as I have already said would be a necessary pre-requisite to a return to Liverpool, it would have to be up to Jurgen Klopp.

Many fans will disagree with me on this and that's fine but I think there's still one hell of a player in Coutinho.

He seems like a shadow of the player that wowed the Premier League in the buildup to his marquee La Liga move but if there is a manager that could squeeze every bit of that samba magic out of the former Inter Milan star it's Klopp.

He used him as an attacking no.8 in 2017 and while he might not have the legs for that now, he could give the Reds the option to play with a no.10 at long last.

While Manchester City have at least three or four players capable of occupying that space, Liverpool don't really have any players that can play to a world-class level in the hole and it limits them in the final phase of attacking play.

With Coutinho, a player that can shoot from long range, play a dinked pass, dribble past a player to open up space or even play a clever pass through a tight space, Liverpool would be able to go up a notch and potentially catch Manchester City in the Premier League title race.