Craig Bellamy thinks that Liverpool have to let their star man go to Barcelona this summer, feeling that the player has his heart set on the move with an offer which is too good to turn down.
Barcelona have already had two bids rejected for the Brazilian playmaker and he is yet to play for Liverpool this season with what has been described as a back injury.
The Spanish team were recently humiliated over two legs against Real Madrid losing 5-1 in the Spanish Super Cup. The nature of this defeat intensified the need for reinforcements following Neymar's departure and so Ernesto Valverde is expected to launch a third bid of around £100m for the 25-year-old.
Bellamy believes his former club can't stand in the way of their talisman.
"When a footballer tells a manager they want to go, than they tend to move on quite quickly because in their heads they have to," Bellamy said.
"If a player came to see me and asked to leave; I'd want to know the reason why and if it was a club like Barcelona I'd understand.
"I can understand why Liverpool want to hold onto Coutinho – a lot of clubs are taking a hard-line now. They don't have to sell.
"But Coutinho has to want to leave – of course he does. It's very easy to point the fingers at footballers but, no matter what your job is, if you had the chance to go to the best in the business, getting paid way more than you are, then you're going to want to take that offer up.
"In fact, I'd be concerned if Coutinho didn't want to take up Barcelona's offer."