Liverpool wasted £26m on “worst mistake” who earned more than Coutinho

If there is no struggle, there is no progress, and Liverpool have carried both parts in equal weight over the past decade. Though the Jurgen Klopp era was laden with trophies and success, it met plenty of adversity.

But it’s the struggle that makes reaching the apex such a wonderful thing. Liverpool have tasted the Premier League and Champions League trophies since Klopp’s advent, with a host of domestic silver won too.

There’s not quite a single watershed moment, so to speak, that defines the rise, but the sale of Philippe Coutinho certainly sparked the highest level that the Reds reached under their larger-than-life German boss.

Philippe Coutinho’s time at Liverpool

From Liverpool’s standpoint, every inch of Coutinho’s time at the club can only go down as an unmitigated success, having signed the creative midfielder from Inter Milan for just £8.5m in January 2013, enjoying the height of his qualities throughout a storied career and selling him to Barcelona for a jaw-dropping £142m figure in January 2018.

It was a staggering sum and one that allowed Liverpool to move and sign the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, shaping Klopp’s side into a superpower.

A true magician of a footballer, Coutinho was blessed with the slickest of movements, nifty and tricky while carrying an influence that stretched as much from his confidence and self-belief as it did from his raw talent.

As you will see below, he was utterly mesmerising in his performances that year, supercharging Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino in front of him and leaving the iconic trio with enough gas to fire their way to immortalised Anfield status over the next several years.

Liverpool couldn’t turn down Barcelona’s offer. They just couldn’t. The domino effect saw Van Dijk and Alisson welcomed soon after to bring the backline to an imperious level, and it all came together and dovetailed.

Coutinho’s decision to move to La Blaugrana was justifiable, but there’s a famous Klopp quote that rings true to this day.

“I told him stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour,” Klopp said. “Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more.”

It’s safe to assume that the Brazilian has looked dolefully back at his time on Merseyside, but he signed a contract worth around £400k-per-week in Catalonia, eclipsing his earnings at Liverpool.

Given that he was taking home less than Mario Balotelli, it’s understandable that he would leap at the chance to link up with Lionel Messi and his celestial crew.

Mario Balotelli’s Liverpool “mistake”

‘Why always me?’ the Liverpool fanbase seemed to question as a time of such promise crumbled away like a sandcastle fighting haplessly against the tide. There was an inexorability about the pull of regression, back to the cold and comfortable familiarity of struggle.

‘Why always me?’ asked Balotelli, as his efforts at Liverpool failed to inspire the kind of striking prowess that was hoped for after the ludicrous Luis Suarez left for the now-bygone riches of Barcelona.

It was a bleak period, a tumbledown time. Direction was wayward and hope was in scarce supply. Balotelli, at least, was a name. Quite the name. A notorious figure but he did know goals, and that was what the Reds needed.

But a stream of goals to replace Suarez’s 31-goal haul the year before did not arrive, not a trickle but more of a splutter, with the former Italy international notching during a win over Tottenham Hotspur in April in what proved his sole Premier League goal for the Merseysiders.

Liverpool didn’t quite know what to expect but they certainly expected more. Something. Where was the magic, the flair, the gusto? It just didn’t work out, plain and simple, and given that Balotelli’s £16m transfer fee, joining from AC Milan, arrived with a £100k-per-week salary that saw him earn more than all but Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge, it’s clear it was quite the blunder, with a star like Coutinho only earning £75k per week.

Moreover, after failing in his one season at the club, he headed back to Milan to salvage his career, and since Liverpool agreed to the deal without the insertion of a salary portion being covered, it means that he was paid over £10m across the two-year spell, taking Liverpool’s expenses to about £26m. Straight from the horse’s mouth, Balotelli even believed the whole ordeal to have been “the worst mistake” of his life.

The former Inter Milan and Manchester City striker scored 26 goals in 46 games for the Rossoneri before returning, but the damage had been dealt and he failed to recapture his form in the Serie A, posting once in the league for the second season running, albeit in a wholly different setting.

It cost Liverpool a great deal. It cost them their momentum, it cost the Reds their place in the Champions League, and it cost Brendan Rodgers his job. Perhaps, then, it wasn’t the biggest mishap in the world, for it sparked change that saw Klopp enthroned as the all-inspiring new leader.

Cause and effect, cause and effect. It’s one to forget, for sure, but maybe, in his own way, Balotelli helped pave the foundation blocks of Klopp’s illustrious era.