Liverpool have been urged to try to re-sign Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona by former Reds star Phil Thompson, who believes the club may well have inserted a buy-back clause into their deal to sell him in the first place.
The Brazil international has endured a difficult time at Barcelona, having never really looked like the same player he was at Liverpool for the Catalan giants.
Anfield legend Thompson clearly still rates Coutinho highly, however, and there is a case to be made for Liverpool trying to strengthen in that position this summer anyway.
Jurgen Klopp never really replaced Coutinho directly, with Xherdan Shaqiri coming in and playing a similar sort of role, though rarely starting matches and playing 90 minutes.
Coutinho is attracting attention this summer, with Cadena Ser recently claiming Chelsea were interested in the 26-year-old in a potential £90million deal to replace Eden Hazard.
It remains to be seen if the player himself would want a return to Liverpool, but Thompson still believes there’s a chance his old club could have some edge in any battle as they might have put a buy-back clause in the deal when they sold him.
Speaking on Sky Sports as quoted by the Mirror, Thompson said: “I would take him back in a heartbeat but it would have to be now.
“You don’t want to leave it another 12 months because he still has the ability.
“I would have him back, I don’t know about the club, but he is the one with that ability.
“With the club being shrewd, maybe there is a buy-back clause for less than half of what we sold him.
“He has suffered at Barcelona , playing out wide on the left. He is not Neymar.
“He likes to be in the middle where he can pull the strings, get on the ball and hurt teams. They don’t love him at Barcelona like they loved him at Liverpool.
“He was that clever one, that little bit of creativity behind the front three, that you could go to in games where you have lots of possession.”
Chelsea arguably need Coutinho more right now after their difficult season and due to the Hazard situation, with L’Equipe reporting the Belgian could be announced as a Real Madrid player after the Europa League final.
Still, it could be a major statement of intent for LFC if they can bring Coutinho back and get him producing as he did before.