Jamie Carragher Thinks Liverpool Will Be Lucky to Get 12 More Months Out of Philippe Coutinho

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher hopes Philippe Coutinho will stay with the Reds for another 12 months.

Coutinho has been linked with a move to La Liga giants Barcelona, but signed a new five-year deal in January after producing some of the best football of his career during the 2016-17 season, scoring 13 goals and adding seven assists in 31 Premier League matches.

“Hopefully we can get 12 more months out of him. When he signed his five-year deal, I didn’t think that he would see it out,” Carragher told 5Times.

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“There is no doubt that at one stage in his career Philippe will want to play for one of the Spanish giants, as many of the South American players do. Barcelona and Real Madrid are seen as the two biggest teams in world football, who always have the best players.

“It’s always the dream of many players to play for one of them, so we can’t really complain about that.”

Despite hope that Coutinho will reject interest from Barcelona this summer, Carragher believes it is inevitable that the Brazil international will sign for another European giant at some stage in his career.

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He added: “It’s been said that Barcelona want to make a big money signing, not only because of the danger of losing Neymar.

“But also with Andres Iniesta coming to the end of his career, Barcelona see Coutinho as the ideal signing.

“To be honest, I think that Liverpool fans should really enjoy him over the next 12 months. As if a big-money offer does come in at the end of next season and if the player wants to play for Barcelona, then there is not really much Liverpool can do.

“Like I said, let’s just hope we see him in a Liverpool shirt next season, which I think we will, and then let’s see where things go from there.”