Philippe Coutinho has been heavily linked with Chelsea (Picture: Getty)

Emmanuel Petit says he would be ‘very, very happy’ to see Philippe Coutinho back in the Premier League amid rumours Chelsea are interested in signing the midfielder this summer.

Coutinho failed to live up to his enormous €160million (£145m) price tag after swapping Liverpool for Barcelona back in 2018 and the 27-year-old joined Bayern Munich on loan last summer as he looked to get his career back on track.

The Brazilian has shown glimpses of the form which made him a superstar on Merseyside but Bayern have made it clear they have no interest in making the deal permanent at the end of the season.



Various publications have linked Liverpool with their former player and Chelsea have reportedly held talks to bring the playmaker back to England, with Frank Lampard on the hunt for midfield reinforcements ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.


Emmanuel Petit hopes to see Philippe Coutinho back in the Premier League (Picture: Getty)

Petit had similar struggles when he completed a move from Arsenal to Barca back in 2000 and the Frenchman is confident Coutinho will be regretting his switch to the Nou Camp.

He told Paddy Power: ‘If I was Philippe Coutinho, every morning I would wake up and think to myself, “Why, why, did I sign [for Barcelona] in Spain?”

‘And do you know why I say this? Because, I can remember the time when I’d wake up, when I was at Barcelona, when I left Arsenal, and I was thinking the same way, “Why did I leave? Why did I leave? Why did I leave?”

‘To be honest with you I am sure Coutinho has been asking himself the same question for a while now. He left for Bayern Munich, he does sometimes play well but he’s not really a first-team player.’

Though Petit doubts Coutinho would ever consider a return to Liverpool, he hopes to see the Brazil international back on these shores if his spell with Barcelona does come to an end.

‘I’m pretty sure it would work out for him [returning to England]. He fits perfectly with the Premier League,’ Petit added.

‘He’s got the vision, the technique, the speed, he can strike, he has the creativity.

‘We all know what he is capable of. I was a big fan of his when he was at Liverpool. I would be very, very happy to see him back in the Premier League.

‘He won’t go back to Liverpool. When I was at Barcelona, they wanted me back at Arsenal, and it was tempting – I was close to returning to Arsenal.

‘But at the end of the day, I was thinking “Emmanuel, you need to be honest with yourself. If you left a year ago it was for a reason”.

‘If Coutinho is honest with himself, since he left Liverpool they have won the Champions League and they’re on the way to winning the Premier League. Liverpool haven’t needed him, so why would he go back to Liverpool?’

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