Philippe Coutinho can’t say he wasn’t warned.

On the final day of 2016-17 season, having just watched his team clinch a Champions League spot, Jurgen Klopp was asked about the future of his Brazilian number 10.

Coutinho had been brilliant all year, scoring or assisting 20 goals, and the Liverpool manager was emphatic in his assessment.

“Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour,” Klopp replied, “Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player.”

The Reds’ little magician did not end up moving that summer, but, flush with the cash from the Neymar transfer, Barcelona were determined to get their man. In January 2018, he finally departed for an extraordinary £142m.

Coutinho had repeatedly made clear his wish to join the Catalan giants, and though that insistence angered some Liverpool fans, it is difficult to reprimand him for it.

The Premier League has become a desirable destination for young Brazilians over the last decade, but it will never match up to the glamour and allure of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

On the concrete futsal courts, sandy beaches and dirt pitches of South America’s biggest country, kids dream of playing for one of the two Spanish giants, and Coutinho was no different.

This season, unfortunately, the reality has been far-removed from the purity of that childish fantasy.

Initially brought in on the premise that he would occupy the central midfield role vacated by Andrés Iniesta, Coutinho has instead seen that spot filled by fellow South Americans Arthur and Arturo Vidal.

Valverde has taken the view that Coutinho is not dynamic enough for the middle of the park, where he can leave his team looking vulnerable to more physically imposing opponents, as was so clearly the case in Brazil’s 2018 World Cup quarter final against Belgium.