Philippe Coutinho will help Chelsea, but that’s not enough reason to buy

It wouldn’t be a Chelsea transfer market if the Blues and Philippe Coutinho weren’t linked. These two have shared a connection for a number of transfer windows, and including when Eden Hazard was at the club.

Let’s get this out of the way first. Philippe Coutinho, on his day, is a fantastic player, capable of a killer pass, a wonder goal – quite frankly the man can do a whole lot of things few can. He would make any team better. He has experience at the highest level, and he has played in some great teams around other world-class players.

Chelsea also have a need. Willian and Pedro both look to be out the door and unlikely to be wearing Blue come the start of next season with Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi the obvious replacements.

While Pulisic has shown he can hold down the left flank, Hudson-Odoi has yet to build on his performances under Maurizio Sarri, granting he has suffered from serious injuries over the past 12 months. What both lack are age and experience.

Pulisic has more experience than Hudson-Odoi thanks to his time at Borussia Dortmund, but with Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount making up the rest of the attacking trident, Chelsea are relatively inexperienced up front for a team with serious title ambitions in England and Europe.

At 27 years old Coutinho still has a few years in the tank and he can play across the front three. If Frank Lampard wants him there is certainly a spot for him in the squad. Furthermore, his experience would be a fantastic bone at which Messrs Pulisic, Mount and Hudson-Odoi could pick.

What’s more, his price appears to drop every week. Far from the £110 million Liverpool sold the Brazilian for, rumours are now circulating he could be netted for closer to £50-60 million. That range is a fantastic price for someone of Coutinho’s quality.

However, there’s more to it than that.

First, Hakim Ziyech is already a Chelsea player and will likely feature in the starting XI from the get-go next season. Ziyech further clogs the attacking positions and Chelsea run the risk of stunting the growth of their youth as, if you add in Coutinho, there leaves only one spot for Mount, Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi to fight over.

Competition is certainly no bad thing, but if those three are to be fighting for one place shouldn’t they be doing that because Chelsea had brought in Jadon Sancho?

Chelsea are at the crucial stage in blooding their youth into the team. Coutinho is a great option to have in your team, but he is no Jadon Sancho.

So why are Chelsea constantly linked to Coutinho? Perhaps because no expects the Chelsea brass to cough up what is required to get Sancho.

But a London boy, who has spoken of his love of Chelsea greats when he was growing up, to a team that could do with a player of his talent in a position they need? What more to it is there?

Coutinho is the next best option when Chelsea fail to get Sancho. He is a very good and viable second option. He isn’t exactly what Chelsea fans want but when, in the last few windows. have Chelsea gone out and brought in the player everyone clamoured for? Not since Eden Hazard.

Barcelona also need to offload players this summer. Defender Samuel Umtiti is touted to be on the way out of Camp Nou and, as neither Andreas Christensen nor Kurt Zouma have looked the total package alongside Antonio Rüdiger, Umtiti could be a worthwhile purchase alongside Coutinho.

The return to Champions League football and the sale of Eden Hazard put the club in a position to spend this off-season, and the team needs it in order to kick on. It just needs the bold choice, like those that once brought Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Michael Essien and more to the club.

Blues fans can (forgetting history) laugh and chant about not buying success like Manchester City and Liverpool have done recently, but how funny is it when they are winning and Chelsea are not? Just ask Tottenham how their Gareth Bale money went. At the upper echelons of world football, quality not quantity is what pays dividends.

Philippe Coutinho and Samuel Umtiti might be a really good deal. But should be at the stage where they are putting their money where their mouth is and going for one of the hottest young talents on the globe – not cutting good deals for above average players.