Chelsea: Phillipe Coutinho rumors still will not go away

Chelsea is again linked to Philippe Coutinho for some reason or another. The Blues may benefit but he really is no longer needed.

Basically since leaving Liverpool, Philippe Coutinho has been linked with a Premier League return. His time at Barcelona did not go as fantastically as was imagined and Liverpool seemingly getting better without him certainly did not help matters. His loan at Bayern Munich has been stop start as he has looked for the magic that got him the move to Barcelona in the first place.

Coutinho was linked to Chelsea strongly before the transfer ban, but time has done little to improve his stock. He would hardly be the first player to move to a big Spanish club, struggle, and then try to revive his career at Bayern Munich. Chelsea simply seems to be the next step in that particular line.

Unfortunately for Coutinho, signing him now simply does not make a whole lot of sense. Hakim Ziyech fills the role Coutinho would be and he is A: cheaper and B: at least in better form ahead of the move/potential move. So why do the Coutinho rumors persist?

The first answer is Chelsea is looking to lose both Willian and Pedro. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic are wingers to build a future around, but alone they cannot make it through a season. Ziyech would supplement them, but ideally there would be one more player. Everyone wants Jadon Sancho, but Coutinho may simply be more available.

Tied to that notion is the very open ended question as to Ziyech coming in as a winger or a midfielder. At Ajax he regularly plays wide as well as central, so there could very much be a world where he and Coutinho can coincide without stepping on each other’s toes.

There is also the hard to shake similarities to Cesc Fabregas. Fabregas left a Premier League rival for Barcelona and struggled to live up to their lofty expectations. Chelsea took the punt at him and it worked out fantastically. Coutinho may have struggled at Barcelona and may be struggling at Bayern Munich, but a return to the Premier League may be just what he needs to reach his best again.

But it is hard to shake how much his stock has fallen since leaving Liverpool and how much Liverpool’s has risen in his absence. He was their star and while it is not unheard of for a team to improve once they lose that tunnel vision focus on their star (indeed, many expected the same with Eden Hazard), it is still telling that Liverpool’s rise to competing toe to toe with Manchester City came when the Brazilian left.

Coutinho to Chelsea could work out on paper but as of right now it seems like a bad idea. He is not really a necessary target and it would be risky for the Blues to assume they can be the club that can set him back straight. This one might have some steam, but hopefully the rumor train comes off the tracks before too long.