Sky Sports Announce Philippe Coutinho Transfer Request, Liverpool Issue Denial

It’s a topsy-turvy football world. Emotions run high. And the transfer window for many is a gut-wrenching exercise in maintaining sanity amidst the constant threat of your club’s best players being tempted and stolen away. This morning, Liverpool fans got to spend an hour thinking FSG had shut and locked the door on any Philippe Coutinho transfer talk.

The club’s owners released an official statement concerning any offers for Philippe Coutinho. Sure, they have already said that the little Brazilian won’t be leaving Merseyside. And yes, Jürgen Klopp has also reiterated this position. But with the persistence of Barcelona’s shenanigans and the seeds of doubt which have so rooted in some supporters minds over Liverpool’s proper level of determination in keeping it’s best players around, I guess it was time to get out the letterhead and make it official.

“We wish to offer clarity as regards our position on a possible transfer of Philippe Coutinho,” FSG’s statement read. “The club’s definitive stance is that no offers for Philippe will be considered and he will remain a member of Liverpool Football Club when the summer window closes.”

Which seemed like it settled things until just an hour later when Sky claimed to break news that Coutinho had handed in a transfer request. That came as a surprise. It wasn’t supposed to be part of the script. And Sky of all places, kings of regurgitating transfer news but rarely the one that breaks news, being the source for it seemed odd. Still, it was impossible to ignore. The worst had happened.

Or it hadn’t. Minutes later, James Pearce of The Liverpool Echo and Melissa Reddy of Goal and Dominic King of The Mail and Simon Clancy of the BBC came out to say that, no, there had been no transfer request. It hadn’t happened. Though that doesn’t exactly tell us what did just happen.

And it won’t be enough to calm the nerves of Liverpool fans. Not fully. And for a time this morning, things had seemed so clear. So settled. As of now, there is no transfer request and Coutinho is staying at Liverpool. Probably. Hopefully. Until the next bit of breaking news at least.