Who do Liverpool need to sign to retain the title? Keep up with all the Reds news with our free daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It took Philippe Coutinho 15 months after arriving at Anfield to sit down, face to face, with the English media.

Even then, he required the services of an interpreter, and was painfully shy as he haltingly answered questions about his background in Brazil, his dreams... and his tattoo.

It says "Never Stop Dreaming", in English, not Portuguese, and he suggested then it reflected his aims and ambitions for Liverpool, the club where he felt so much at home.

The impression from that first real meeting with the national media in his adopted country, was of a genuine, quiet, decent kid, who would not let his new found fame go to his head or affect the obvious love he held for his family.

Fast forward to January of this year, and an interview arranged by the player's agent, a day after he signed a new five year contract committing the best years of his career at Anfield. A contract signed without a release clause.

(Image: Liverpool FC)

There was no clause, he said, because he wasn't interested in the money from China, or even the lure of Barcelona. He KNEW he was in the right place. "I can smell it," he said, "I am living it, seeing it".

The emphasis in the interview was on family, and how comfortable he was at Liverpool, how right it was. A place where "You can express yourself, play without fear, play with everything you have. When you find that place, stay."

That was seven months ago, and in the intervening period, Liverpool have qualified for the Champions League under a manager who has reached the final of that competition, and displayed the ability to return.

I detail all this, because the words of Philippe Coutinho, in person, the real Coutinho, the shy, decent kid who still gets embarrassed when speaking in public, show he is not a cynical, deceitful person. They show he is a loving family man.

Yet his actions in the past few weeks - or rather, his lack of action in the face of what appears to be some truly horrific, cynical behaviour on his behalf - is now in real danger of destroying that image, reputation. Truth.

(Image: PA) (Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Coutinho has no doubt listened to the advice of Barcelona, and his advisor. He has acted on that advice.

But perhaps he now needs to look a little further for some balancing advice, because the actions being carried out in his name are terrible.

The Brazilian needs to pause now for a second, and consider this: very soon, he will have to look every single one of his Liverpool team-mates in the eye, and explain why it seems those actions were designed to undermine the team's place in the Champions' League.

Because Phil, that is exactly how it seems. How else to explain the timing of every single one of Barcelona's "bids" for him, and for his own transfer request?

The first arrived a day before the club's first important test of pre-season. The second, two days before the start of the Premier League season.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

His transfer request - which he sent himself, don't forget, by email - was submitted less than 24 hours before Liverpool faced Watford on the opening day of the campaign.

And leaked to newspapers and tv outlets close to the player's agent... which is pretty low, by anybody's terms.

But worse, much worse followed. Barely hours before Liverpool travelled to Hoffenheim for a Champions' League play off game which would define not just their season, but perhaps the whole future of the club, "family" members were quoted by Sky Sports as viciously criticising the Reds board.

The whole trip to Germany was engulfed by the drama surrounding Coutinho, and not only manager Jurgen Klopp, but skipper Jordan Henderson found themselves answering questions relating solely to the midfielder, and not the team's vital encounter.

Inevitably, a third bid followed the day before Liverpool played their first home game of the season, and now Barcelona have taken the stakes a notch higher.

Liverpool's stance has always been consistent: bid instantly rejected, please do not contact us again. Ever. So if Barcelona were to bid again yesterday, the day before quite possibly the biggest game for Liverpool in almost four years, it would naturally have been instantly rejected and the matter swiftly ignored.

So they didn't bid. Instead, the same outlets close to the agent were told by "sources" a bid would be arriving imminently. And there is hangs, over Liverpool like the Sword of Damocles, full of foreboding.

Of course, as soon as it is submitted it will be rejected. But the Anfield board can't reject a bid that hasn't been submitted. For the sake of their team and the Champions' League dream, they have to ignore it completely.

So why even bother, especially now, hours before such a massive game for Liverpool, one so big it will affect the entire careers of all their players?

The most obvious conclusion to draw - and Coutinho's own team-mates could be forgiven if they are now thinking this - is that Barcelona and the player's representatives, and therefore the player himself, may consider their best chance of getting out of Anfield is if Liverpool lose against Hoffenheim and go out.

You can draw your own conclusions on the timing of this latest charade then. But eventually, there will be a reckoning. If Coutinho remains at Anfield - and everything coming from within the English club screams that now he damn well will, not matter how much is offered, even if it is £300m - then he will have to look his team-mates in the eye.

He may have to explain why it seems he was trying to destabilise Liverpool in the days leading to games they dare not lose. Everything I've seen about Coutinho's character suggests he is not the sort of person who would want to hurt his team-mates lives.

So perhaps the best advice of all he could take right now is to put an end to this cynical, horrible, vaguely sickening timing of bids and transfer requests, and consider what it is doing to the hopes and ambitions of his team-mates, his close friends like Roberto Firmino, Alberto Moreno and Jordan Henderson.

Because they, like him, have the right to never stop dreaming.