Tite tells Barca target Coutinho: Go where you feel happy

Tite is unsure where Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho will be playing when the transfer window shuts but the Brazil boss has told the Barcelona target to go where he feels happy.

Coutinho continues to be heavily linked with a move to Spanish giants Barca ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline in the Premier League, though LaLiga clubs have an extra day to complete their business.

The Brazil international – subject of three failed bids from Barcelona after handing in a transfer request – is yet to feature for Liverpool this season due to a back injury and illness.

As Coutinho and CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying leaders Brazil prepare to face Ecuador on Thursday, head coach Tite provided an update on the attacking midfielder.

“I can’t assess Coutinho in financial terms,” Tite told reporters. “My thing is in the pitch, that’s my concern. We have different realities.

“But I’ve talked to Coutinho, told him the same I’ve told you: go where you feel happy. If it’s Liverpool, I’ll be ok. If it’s another one, I’ll be ok.

“I have to know my limits. I don’t have to have opinion about everything. I don’t want to be a showman, to be talking about everything. I’m very discreet in this kind of things. And fair. And justice is that he can be happy. I don’t know which club he’s going to. He’ll decide it. But the Brazilian squad won’t lose him.”

Coutinho is in line to feature in Brazil’s qualifiers against Ecuador and Colombia, despite his lack of playing time at Liverpool.

Back problems and a bout of illness are behind Coutinho’s Liverpool absence, though his doctor in Brazil contradicted this by claiming the player was suffering from stress brought about by uncertainty over his future.

Talking about Coutinho’s fitness, Tite said: “Coutinho was called up with 15 days of anticipation. We were aware that we are in a transference window with all the chances of changes coming in. I have to pay attention to it.

“That’s a reality because it touches the emotional side, the player’s life, the routine of the clubs. And, at the same time, we have to look at the essence of Brazilian squad. A player with the level and the quality of Philippe.

“Coutinho, fit at that moment, had to be called. He had a problem. And the dimension of this injury, to know that our basis was the moment in which he arrived to the Brazilian squad. I have this responsibility of telling you this.

“And the medical department made an assessment, a transition work, a contact from physician to physician from Liverpool, from staff to staff, I didn’t do that because I don’t speak English but we made it, so that we wouldn’t put a player at risk but also don’t lose him. Don’t lose a player with the level of Coutinho. He stays as an option.”