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But while this may be a tongue-in-cheek response, the reality is that Liverpool are still very much benefitting from Coutinho’s record sale to Barcelona in 2018.

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Questions about Liverpool’s spending in the market are not new.

The Reds paid big sums for the likes of Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk back in 2018.

That transformative pair cost around £150m between them, almost the exact same figure the Liverpool owners banked for Coutinho’s £142m sale.

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Clearly, the captures of Alisson and Van Dijk would not have been possible without Coutinho being sold.

But the benefit of having two bona fide superstars in key positions has been felt at Anfield ever since.

The Reds immediately made it to the Champions League final after signing Van Dijk, before Alisson’s arrival helped them win the trophy the year after.

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From there, Liverpool got better and better.

As they improved on the pitch, cash began to filter into the club’s coffers much, much more freely.

At the heart of everything have been Alisson and Van Dijk, the two big-money signings who Coutinho helped to fund.

Without Jurgen Klopp sacrificing his best player in January 2018, who knows where Liverpool would be today.

What is clear is that the knock-on effect of selling Coutinho has left the Reds in a very good place financially for years to come.

For Liverpool fans, the hope had been that as they tried to target Isak from Newcastle, the Magpies would see the benefit in having their own ‘Coutinho moment’.

They could have sold their star man for more than £120m and reinvested that into bringing in a game-changing signing or two.

Instead, they have stood firm.

While Toon fans will no doubt rejoice in keeping hold of their top scorer, the wiser, longer-term thinking may have been to learn from Liverpool’s success and try to replicate it.

The Reds have been on a path to financial security ever since the low-point of letting Coutinho leave.
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