Liverpool, who rested their talisman Phillipe Coutinho due to a minor injury, started off their Premier League campaign for the new season in a hard fought encounter against a resilient Watford side, which ended in a 3-3 draw. With both the teams sharing the spoils, it was pretty clear that things won’t be very easy for the Reds this term if they don’t have the brilliant Brazilian in their team for the rest of the season.
Coutinho has been eyed by the Spanish giants Barcelona of late, who are looking desperate to bag the player for the new season to fill up the void left by the departure of their Brazilian superstar Neymar, who joined the French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint Germain for a world record transfer fee in the summer transfer window.
Though it has been made clear that their prized possession is not for sale by Liverpool, who have already rejected a couple of bids from the Catalan club, the move looks quite imminent, as Coutinho himself has stepped in with a transfer request to the club authority to join Barcelona. The situation being this, the Reds have already started their search for a viable replacement for their valued player.
A series of names have come up as a potential replacement for Coutinho in the Liverpool line-up, out of which a few are looking to be the strongest contenders to fill in the shoes of the talismanic Brazilian at Anfield for this season, in case he leaves in the summer. One such player is the Spanish youngster Marco Asensio, who has been targeted by the Reds in the past as well and might be the perfect player to fit the bill for the Reds.
The 20-year-old has been termed as one of the stars of the future for his national team as well as his club side Real Madrid, and the youngster has featured for them in 39 matches so far. He has shown an array of his skills en route to scoring 10 goals for them along with four assists to set up his teammates in front of the goal and keep his team in advantage.
However, the lack of starts in the Galacticos’ side in the last term has been one of the detrimental factors for the Spaniard to continue with them and might lead him to leave Santiago Bernabeu in the summer, with the Premier League being his most probable destination.
Reportedly, Liverpool have already made a bid for Asensio and are hoping that the player will be good enough to replace Coutinho in their line-up for this season.
