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As you all know Philippe Coutinho has left Liverpool to join FC Barcelona for a British record fee of £142m. An astronomical amount, but for a team who sold Neymar for £200m and bought Ousmane Dembele for £135m it is only a splash in the ocean with the amount in modern football. 

Now everyone is on the race to name Liverpool's new man, as players like Thomas Lemar from Monaco, Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City, Gelson Martins from Sporting CP and even bringing in the future red Naby Keita early.

But what if Liverpool didn't sign anyone this winter window. What if, like in the summer, we waited to get our main target of Lemar. We have now see Virgil van Dijk join Liverpool who currently sit 4th in the Premier League table, into the fourth round of the FA Cup and have a winnable tie against Porto in the round of 16 of the Champions League.

Yet in the summer all Liverpool fans were panicking that we were going into the season with only Ragnar Klavan, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovern as our centre backs. This is the time to remind everyone Liverpool currently have conceded the least amount of home goals in the Premier League with only 3. This was also achieved without our new Dutchman. 

What if Jurgen Klopp knows that we have Adam Lallana coming back into full fitness and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hitting his stride in Merseyside so we may not need to replace the Brazilian. There is also talk the proposed loan move for young Ben Woodburn to Sunderland may not happen as the Welshman has shown he can play the 'Coutinho' role. 

From various sources, including Liverpool's statement they sent out regarding the sale of the midfielder, it had shown that Klopp was willing to let him go because he was not focused solely on Liverpool. This is what the German wants, he looks for a player with specific sets of skills. He wants winners and people who want to play at Liverpool, Coutinho didn't want to be at Liverpool anymore so Klopp willingly let him go. 

Klopp has shown before that if he cannot get his target then and there he is happy to wait until he can get his man. The only problem with the summer window is most sides will want transfers done before the World Cup begins on the 14th June. This summer the window shuts early due to the vote of the 20 Premier League teams who approved it to shut before the opening weekend. So the window slams shut on the 9th August. 

During Klopp's time in Germany he had overseen key players leave Borussia Dortmund. Nuri Sahin joined Real Madrid in the 2011/12 season. Shinji Kagawa then moved to Manchester United the season after winning the league. Mario Gotze then followed the tradition in 2013/14 moving to rivals Bayern Munich. Gotze under Klopp had been named young player of the season once and in the team of the season twice. The following season Robert Lewandowski also joined Bayern Munich after finishing top scorer for Dortmund. 

Every time Klopp lost one of his key players he continued to progress with his squad adding players such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

Not all hope is lost, Liverpool still have a team who is improving season by season with a hungry manager and hungry players all wanting to do better. The reds have a forward in Mo Salah who is currently second to Harry Kane in the scoring charts. This team is improving and moving forward, so it will not be the end of the world without a Coutinho replacement. The reds had a very good start to the season without buying their main target over the summer and the same can be replicated again. 

Liverpool will cope with out the Brazilian magicain even though he was having one of his best seasons in a red shirt, but as football shows teams find a way to continue and adapt without their top players. 

Calum Anderson

With the Premier League coming to a close teams are looking at the magical 40 point mark that makes your top level football safe for another season. 

But do you really need to reach 40 points or will fewer points still mean you can stay in the Premier League. 

Looking back at the past 5 seasons it would suggest not:

Last season we lost Aston Villa 17 points, Norwich 34 points and Newcastle 37 points. In this season it was Sunderland who stayed up with just 39 points. 

Back in 2014/15 season we saw 3 clubs end on less than 40 points and stay in the league. Hull came 18th that season with just 35 points. 

In the 2013/14 campaign we saw the lowest point tally in the last 5 seasons. West Ham came 13th this season with 40 points and Norwich again were the unlucky ones with just 33 points and an 18th position. 

The season 2012/13 saw Sunderland end in 17th place with 39 points again, below them Wigan with 36 points and an FA Cup trophy to their name, but ultimately relegation. 

Finally all the way back in 2011/12 two more teams stayed in the Premier League with less than the magic 40 points, QPR and Aston Villa both remained a top flight side despite failing to get to 40 points with with Bolton going down with 36 points. 

This shows in most seasons you only need an average of 37 points to stay in the league. 

With this in mind: Crystal Palace only need 3 points for safety from 7 games. Hull 7 points from 6 games. Swansea 9 points from 6 games. Boro will need 13 points from 7 games and Sunderland would almost have to double their points tally, they need to rack up 17 points from 7 games. 

Calum Anderson