Owen Hargreaves has said that former Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho will “surely” be on the list of targets for the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea.
Coutinho, who moved to Liverpool in 2013, spent five successful – albeit trophy-less – years at Anfield before securing a dream move to Barcelona in January 2018.
The Brazilian struggled to rediscover his form at Camp Nou, however, and was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich this season, where he has scored nine goals and assisted eight others.
It remains unclear whether Bayern will sign Coutinho on a permanent deal or send him back to Barcelona – in the latter case, reports have suggested that he could look to move away, with a return to the Premier League on the cards.
Speaking to BT Sport (via Goal), Hargreaves insisted that he would “love” to see the 27-year-old back in the English top flight, also assessing United and Chelsea’s chances of signing him.
“I would love to see him back in the Premier League. He makes a lot of teams better,” Hargreaves said.
“Premier League teams are probably the only ones with the capacity to sign him and, let’s be honest, when he was here he was a dream to watch.
“If Liverpool are missing one thing it is probably a No10-ish player. I know they probably don’t need him because that front three are so good as is the balance in midfield.
“There are a lot of rumours about Chelsea, even Man United. There are a lot of teams where if I was sporting director, surely his name is on a lot of teams’ lists to come in and make a big impact.
“The question is, does he do it on loan again or is it a sale, because it doesn’t look like he’s going to stay at Barcelona.”
Coutinho has scored 70 goals and assisted 53 others in his time in Europe’s major leagues.
The Brazil international has also scored 17 goals in 61 appearances for his country.
In other news, Hargreaves has also backed Jadon Sancho to impress if he makes a move to United.
Borussia Dortmund winger Sancho has been heavily linked with the Old Trafford club in recent months.
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