Ex Saints Legend Claims Coutinho To St Mary's Swap Deal Close ! Friday, 14th Jul 2017 11:00 A former member of the same Southampton FC Youth team that included Alan Shearer has spoken about how he has been told that a move to St Mary's for Phillipe Coutinho is close. Philippe Coutinho is set to move to Southampton as part of a complex swap deal that would see Virgil Van Dijk move in the other direction according to a former team mate of Alan Shearer in the Saints youth team set up of 1986. John Lireman who claimed he once shared a dressing room with Alan Shearer in the mid 80's before leaving the game to become a Sattelite dish installer made the claims on a Southampton fans message board on Wednesday evening. Lireman who claimed to be "ITK" and to work for Sky TV said. "I have heard that the Virgil Van Dijk deal is not yet dead, the club's are talking and it all hinges on Saints agreeing terms with Philippe Coutinho to move in the other direction " " I still have extensive contacts in the game from my time at Saints in the mid 80's and Alan Shearer and I were in close contact for many years before a restraining order in 1997" Lireman who admitted that he hoped to resurrect his career in the game by working as a pundit in the National media agreed that making claims like this could only enhance his profile, but refuted that this was his motive for his claims. " I know that some ex Liverpool players have used this route to try and keep up their media profile, but this is not my motive, I am doing this because I am genuinely ITK and have been told by someone close to Saints that this deal is really about to happen. Certainly there are some clues to the fact that Coutinho could be about to leave Anfield. Yesterday Liverpool themselves claimed that Coutinho was not for sale, a blatant attempt to push up the price that they will be looking for Saints to pay as part of any swap deal, mentioning competition from the likes of PSG & Barcelona to try and push Saints into agreeing the deal. The player himself also gave cryptic clues in an interview on his return to England after the summer break. Speaking to the Daily Mirror he said. “I had a very good summer with my family and friends in Brazil and had enough time to rest and enjoy it. To be honest, it was not that hot there — but still a little bit warmer than here!" Coutinho is clearly unsettled by the weather on Merseyside and will be well aware that the temperatures in Southampton are usually a degree or two higher than in Liverpool, he is virtually demanding that fellow South American Mauricio Pellegrino come and get him ! He then continued. “It was nice to come back in and see my team-mates. I’m not training with them , but soon I will be back with them and I’m looking forward to that.” Again Coutinho is clearly referring to be being back with his current team mates "Soon" and soon could mean 18th November when Southampton travel to Anfield in the Premier League. Brazillian team mate Neymar who is currently running down his contract at Barcelona in order to allegedly force through a move to St Mary's also joined in the cryptic messages by speaking recently about how much he would enjoy playing alongside his friend at club level . Jurgen Klopp broke his silence over the recent issues between Saints and Liverpool after last nights friendly win over Tranmere, a win that significantly did not feature Coutinho by saying. Am I allowed to talk about this? I am not!’ Klopp told Liverpool TV "Pretty much everything I could say would be a mistake. You or your colleagues wrote everything about this a few weeks ago." "I was in Iceland by the way when somebody told me this was in the newspaper. I had to leave a full basket of shopping to go and deal with it " "Nothing happened since then, all good so far, so I can’t say anything about this." "But I will say one thing, everyone knows Coutinho does not like the Merseyside weather, so what are Southampton doing posting pictures of their squad training in blazing sunshine in T shirts, that is a blatant attempt to unsettle Coutinho" How much substance the current rumours have is yet to be clarified, but the Liverpool Echo are running a story today where a former Anfield Programme seller claims that the Virgil Van Dijk deal is close, along with the news that Jamie Redknapp will probably claim that Virgil Van Dijk is about to marry his estranged wife that Louise from Girls Aloud or was it Eternal. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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