Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool’s Future

Philippe Coutinho hasn’t been with Liverpool for a year yet but already he has become as important as Luis Suarez to the footballing future of the club and the vision manager Brendan Rodgers see’s the club from the red side of Merseyside becoming.
The 23-year-old Brazilian has taken to the rigours of Premier League football like a duck-to-water and if his early season form continues he seems certain to amongst those young players destined for personal accolades come the end of the season.
Despite picking up a shoulder injury in the recent draw with Swansea , which required surgery he should with the help of the clubs medical staff and controlled doses of creatine to help strengthen the surrounding muscles be back by late October to help Liverpool continue their push for a Top 4 berth.
It’s not hard to see why Rafa Benitez when Inter manager once called Coutinho “the future of Inter”  when he signed them for the Nerazzurri in July 2010. Since his arrival Liverpool have looked a different proposition going forward , attacking with pace and purpose and along with Sturridge and Suarez they now have a 3-pronged attack equal to their Premier League rivals.
The problem for manager Rodgers now is where to fit all of his attacking options into his plans. With on loan signing Victor Moses,Gerrard,Lucas,Henderson,Sterling,Aspas and Luis Alberto at his disposal Rodgers has a dilemma he could have scarcely imagined when he took over the Reds in June 2012 with the club finishing a disappointing 8th under previous manager Kenny Dalglish.
It would appear Rodgers see’s Coutinho as the perfect number 10 , a position where he can affect the game and with his guile create the chances that Suarez and Sturridge thrive upon. His match-winning performance last season away to Wigan was a testament to his ability on the ball and his ability to find space between the opposing teams defence and midfield.

Coutinho will hope his superb form continues when he returns from injury with a World Cup in his native Brazil just around the corner. So far he has played only once for Brazil and that was 3 years ago. If he continues to play for the Merseysiders as he has done now since last January then surely International honours await.
It was evident in Liverpool’s home defeat to Southampton that the guile and vision that has so far been a feature of their early season form was missing and this was in no small part to Coutinho’s absence.
What will be interesting when he returns is how opposing teams will deal with the diminutive Brazilian to negate the obvious influence he as on Liverpool’s attacking play.
The loss of Coutinho is undoubtedly a big one for the Reds and their top-four aspirations, although the timing of the injury could have been worse. With Luis Suarez coming back into contention after this weekend, Rodgers has the opportunity to release Luis Alberto from his shackles.