FORMER BARCELONA AND Arsenal icon Thierry Henry has advised Philippe Coutinho to follow the same path taken by Luis Suarez, urging the Brazilian to remain at Liverpool for one more season.
Barca have been chasing Coutinho since Neymar departed for Paris Saint-Germain in a record-breaking €222 million move and have since had a handful of big-money bids rejected by the Reds.
The Catalan club have signed French wonderkid Ousmane Dembele in the interim but retain a keen interest in Coutinho, though Jurgen Klopp’s side are still reluctant to sell their star playmaker.
The Brazilian finds himself in a similar situation to that of Luis Suarez, who wanted to leave Anfield for Arsenal in 2013 but was forced to stay for another season. Having stayed with the Reds, Suarez had another standout season and sealed himself a £65m move to Camp Nou off the back of his performances.
Speaking to Sky Sports, ex-Barca star Henry feels Coutinho should bide his time with his current club and make a move to Spain next summer, just as Suarez did.
“It’s difficult for me to talk about [the Coutinho situation] because whenever I wanted to leave a club I just left, so I don’t know what it’s like having to stay when you want to leave,” he began.
“I would advise him to do what Luis Suarez did. He wanted to leave, we all knew, though it wasn’t for the same club at the time. But he came back [for Liverpool], acted professionally and had an amazing season. He [Coutinho] strikes me as a similar type of guy.
“Maybe he wants to go, but he should come back — Liverpool fans are going to love him and he loves the club. Come back, have a good season and see what happens next year. Follow the path of Suarez.”
