Luis Garcia urges Philippe Coutinho to stick with Liverpool

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 24 March 2017

Garcia urges Coutinho to stick with Liverpool

Former Liverpool and Barcelona midfielder Luis Garcia is confident that Philippe Coutinho will be an ideal replacement for Andres Iniesta in 'two or three years'.

Luis Garcia has warned Philippe Coutinho that he would be making the wrong choice to swap Liverpool for Barcelona in the next couple of years.

The Brazil international is reportedly one of Barca's top summer transfer targets, despite a drop in performance levels since returning from injury earlier this year.

Barcelona midfielder Neymar claimed this week that Coutinho "would totally fit in" at Camp Nou if he made the switch at the end of the season, but Garcia - who enjoyed spells at both clubs during his career - believes that the 24-year-old would be wise to instead wait for Andres Iniesta to move on.

"Coutinho is a very important player for Liverpool," he told talkSPORT. "As a former player from both teams and the love I have for both of them, I would like to see Coutinho for a few more years in a red shirt.

"Coutinho is still a very young player and [Andres] Iniesta is maybe going to be in the first team for two or three more years. With the quality and technique that Coutinho has got it would be a brilliant time for the team [for him to join]."

Coutinho has managed just one goal and one assist so far this calendar year, compared to a total of nine in the first half of the campaign.