'I'd love to see Coutinho back' - Carragher urges Liverpool to re-sign Barcelona flop

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has revealed he would love to see Philippe Coutinho rejoin the ranks at Anfield.

The Brazil international midfielder left the Reds for Barcelona in January 2018 for £142 million ($201m) but he has failed to settle at Camp Nou and is rumoured to be on the market this summer as Barca potentially try to fund a move for Neymar.

Carragher, who now works as a pundit, said Coutinho would offer the Reds a different option as a creative midfielder.

“I still think they could add a creative player,” Carragher told Pundit Arena.

“I said it before, I’d love to see Liverpool bring back Coutinho if that was possible in any way. Obviously, it hasn’t worked out for him at Barcelona. I just think he would be a great addition.

“You’ve got [Adam] Lallana and [Xherdan] Shaqiri in those positions, but they’re not Coutinho. He would give something that they don’t have compared to [Manchester] City.”

The Premier League title went to City last season despite Liverpool amassing 97 points, and only losing once all season against the champions in January.

And Carragher acknowledges that catching City is going to be a hard task for his former team.

“I mean, only losing one league game was a phenomenal achievement,” he continued.

“Ninety-seven points was a phenomenal achievement. So, in some ways, if Liverpool got 90 points, I don’t think they’ve gone backwards, because it’s so difficult to do again.

“But they’ve got to hope that City come back as well, a little bit.”

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Liverpool did lift the Champions League trophy last season, something Carragher also achieved in a career that saw him appear 508 times for the Merseysiders, across 17 years.

The native Liverpudlian thinks the team is in their best position for three decades, and finally have the financial muscle to compete with the big clubs in the Premier League.

“Now, everyone has so much confidence in the club,” the 41-year-old added. “They know exactly what they’re doing.

“The other era was Gerard Houllier, but you never felt we could really compete with [Manchester] United at that time.

“Right now, it just feels like Liverpool, if they need to spend big, they can. They’ve got one of the top managers around, a great squad, the stadium now, the stand.

“It’s probably the best place Liverpool have been in over 30 years.”