Liverpool have made plenty of high profile signings this summer that include the world record signing of goalkeeper Alisson. Another signing that Liverpool were not only expected but incredibly close to make was that of Lyon’s Nabil Fekir. A deal of £53 million was on the cards but was called off at the final hour due to Fekir’s history of knee problems. Although Fekir denied this.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said that the reason Liverpool did not sign Nabil Fekir was that he did not want any replacement for Philippe Coutinho. Coutinho was an integral player for Liverpool before leaving for Barcelona for £142 million. Despite the absence of Coutinho, the Reds reached the Champions League final where they lost to Real Madrid.
Klopp said that Liverpool do not need another No.10 for the upcoming season. He said, “You cannot replace Phil Coutinho with exactly the same kind of player. He’s Phil Coutinho. He has a specific style of play, tactically an outstanding player, can play as the winger, the 10, the eight – really great. I don’t want to put one of my players in the position where people will now say constantly ‘he’s the Phil replacement’.”
“I think the biggest thing we did in the second half of last season was that we didn’t need to speak too much about Phil. That wasn’t clear in January. How could we have known that? If we had still had Phil then we could have played with Phil in the final. Mo goes out [injured], but Phil still there. Phil on the left wing, bring Sadio to the other side, bring a midfielder on.It’s a different story. It would have been nice but he wasn’t here any more. We wish him well. We don’t need to replace Phil. We need to make a squad for the next year.  Out there on the market, there isn’t a Phil Coutinho light. It’s not there. But there are a lot of good players and we have brought a few of them in.”
