The Couthino departure, and to a large extent, the Suarez and Sterling departures....occurred against the backdrop of us being desperate to get our first league win in a very long time. Naturally, we were all feeling insecure about just becoming a feeder club against the backdrop of that ambition and hearing journos and rival fan-bases describe us as such....in that....any players who stand out and become "too good" will just be hoovered up by bigger [at the time] clubs with more realistic ambition and trophy/medal potential for these players.
I think this is the thing that hurts our sensibilities at Anfield. In that, some players weren't prepared to stick around and become an indefinite, key part of our title ambitions. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that it was a manager that we actually needed to secure in order to press this ambition, not just one or two exceptional players whom we had to desperately try and cling on to.
At the time of Coutinho's departure, I think we'd all had a great lift from the arrival of Klopp and just viewed Coutinho as a cash generator we could use to strengthen the team "properly."
We're now in a very different position.
The notion of any players in this current squad wanting out for "ambition" purposes seems to be remote and unlikely. It's more likely that more and more quality players will want IN when it comes to LFC and this is one of the best unspoken rewards of domestic success and European reputation.
We're going to be able to attract "prime" and "finished article" players if we do our homework properly, and I'd much rather enjoy this period than lament about the likes of Coutinho, because although I enjoyed his skills and contributions, I always knew we were just his shop window back then, as was any player who managed to stand out, and that before too long, other clubs would come sniffing around them.
This is what I like about success.
Once you've earned it, you attract "assets" rather than shedding them.
