Emmanuel Petit: 'Philippe Coutinho will regret leaving Liverpool'

Former Barcelona midfielder Emmanuel Petit has claimed that Philippe Coutinho regrets leaving Barcelona to join the Spanish giants in 2018.

Coutinho moved to Camp Nou for £142m but was shipped out on loan less than 18 months later, spending the 2019-20 campaign with Bayern Munich.

However, the Brazilian's future beyond the end of this season looks uncertain with Bayern unlikely to take up their option to buy, and Petit believes that the midfielder must regret leaving Anfield.

"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?'" Petit told The Mirror.

"And 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. I'm pretty sure it would work out for him [returning to England]. He fits perfectly with the Premier League. 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?"

Chelsea are reportedly leading the race for Coutinho as things stand, while there is also understood to be interest from Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Written by
Barney Corkhill