03 March 2024 , 07:00
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Philippe Coutinho is one of the more expensive Barcelona flops in the Blaugrana's history of recent flops, but the Brazilian has recently claimed he has no regrets about the move.
The attacking midfielder swapped Anfield for the Camp Nou when he left Liverpool for the bright lights of Barcelona mid-way through the 2017/18 campaign. Hot property at the time, Coutinho cost the La Liga giants an eye-watering £142million during the January transfer window.
Within his four-and-a-half-year period at the club, Coutinho managed just 106 appearances, netting 25 goals in that time. He embarked on two loan spells at Bayern Munich and Aston Villa before Barcelona finally deemed him surplus to requirements for good and parted ways on a permanent basis in 2022.
However, speaking to Sport about whether he harbours any regrets over the move, Coutinho insisted: "No. At no time [does he have any regret].
Things did not turn out as I imagined, as people expected, as I expected because I am the first to demand of myself on the field, I tell myself that I have to give more on the field. I tried everything, I have always been very professional and I don’t regret anything.
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"It was always my dream to play for Barca and I went there, I enjoyed it, I was able to meet many people, win titles and it will always be in the story of my life." Coutinho went on to add how he wouldn't change a thing about his time in Catalonia.
His outlook on his failed Barcelona stint is admirable but doesn't exactly line up with past comments made about previous difficult spells in his career. Coutinho has spoken at length about his admiration of the fact that Liverpool gave him time to mature as a player while playing every week.
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Barcelona paid an eye-watering £142m for Philippe Coutinho (Getty Images)This was not a luxury offered to the Brazil international at Barcelona, as shown by the amount of time he spent either on the bench or out on loan.
Speaking to LFCTV in 2015, Coutinho heaped praise on Liverpool as he explained: "My objective has always been to play at a big club, to grow and evolve as a footballer and have a run of games.
"I didn't have that at my previous clubs and I feared it would be the same at Liverpool. But here it's like a family, a club where the manager likes to use young players."
If anything, Coutinho's time at Barcelona stunted his evolution as a footballer, so to hear him admit he wouldn't change a thing serves as quite the shock.
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