If ever there was a precedent for key players departing a football club just when it seems they are at their most important, it is Liverpool. Predictably enough, all the evidence prior to Philippe Coutinho leaving in early January suggested they would suffer losing him.

Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez all spring to mind, having each left Liverpool at the peak of their respective careers. In each case Liverpol's fortunes fell off a cliff.

Liverpool finished second in Alonso's final season at Anfield, four points off the title; one season later, Alonso-less, they finished seventh. In the 2010/11 season in which Torres departed midway through, Liverpool came sixth; they dropped to eighth a year later. In Suarez's last season, Liverpool pushed City close for the title. Without Suarez in the next campaign they came sixth.

That is why Jurgen Klopp fought tooth and nail to keep Coutinho despite Barcelona's unrelenting interest. £142m is what can only be described as 'crazy money', but even at that price few at Liverpool would have wanted to see the back of him.

And yet two months on from his move, Liverpool are safely through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and up from fourth in the Premier League (when Coutinho left) to third, hot on the tails of Manchester United in second. Maybe everything will be alright after all...