Stats Show That European Powerhouses Have Their Eyes on the Wrong Liverpool Star
Barcelona's long-standing interest in Liverpool creator Philippe Coutinho is well documented, with the Catalonian giants tabling a number of bids over the summer in order to try and reach an agreement with the Merseysiders for the Brazil international.
Countless reports suggested that the Premier League club received a series of bids well north of of £100m, but the Catalans' pursuit came to no avail.
It has since been suggested that Barca will continue their attempts to secure the dangerous attacker over the winter, with £130m seemingly the figure on everyone's lips in order to make the deal happen.
Obviously there is little surprise as to why Barcelona are so keen to secure the highly-thought-of Coutinho, with the 25-year-old seen as the perfect replacement to summer loss Neymar, despite the acquisition of former Borussia Dortmund sensation Ousmane Dembele.
However, following a recently released stat, a question that has surfaced is are the La Liga giants focusing on the wrong Liverpool player?
According to OptaJoe, Roberto Firmino has scored more Premier League goals, 24, since his debut in August 2015 than any other player in the Reds' ranks.
This means that since his around £37m move from German side Hoffenheim just over two years ago, the 26-year-old has been more effective in the final third than teammate Coutinho - netting one more than his fellow countryman.
At this point you may be thinking that Coutinho is a more well-rounded player who can provide as well as score goals, that is why the interest is so strong.
However, his Liverpool teammate also claims that accolade as well, with the former Figueirense youth academy graduate boasting 16 assists in comparison to the 25-year-old's 13 in the same time period.
So with this revelation, the question surely is why is the focus simply on Coutinho when Firmino continues to outperform his teammate in all aspects?
