The Tufts Daily - Friday, November 20, 2020

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Friday, November 20, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Talloires Network announces international Next Generation Leaders Initiative

Tufts study highlights improvement in air quality during stay-athome order

by Ella Kamm

Contributing Writer

AVA IANNUCCILLO / THE TUFTS DAILY

Ballou Hall and the Academic Quad are pictured on Oct. 6.

by Matthew McGovern News Editor

The Talloires Network of Engaged Universities has unveiled a new feature of its Global Leaders Conference for next fall, the Next Generation Leaders Initiative, which will be hosted by Tufts and Harvard University. The initiative will be led in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and will be composed of 40 civically engaged “next generation leaders” from around the world.

This initiative will function in tandem with the Network’s Global Leaders Conference (TNLC2021). Participants will be accepted from universities within the Network, and will engage with topics of civic and social engagement, according to the Network’s website.

Applicants for this initiative must be from schools that are signatory members of the Network, and must demonstrate civic and social responsibility, according to Dr. Lorlene Hoyt, executive director of the Talloires Network and research professor in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning.

In an email to the Daily, Hoyt spoke to what the Talloires Network is looking for in applicants for this initiative.

“We’re looking for dynamic young leaders working with local communities who have an interest in connecting with their peers around the world,” Hoyt wrote. “We hope the Next Generations Leaders will bring back new skills to their communities and also a sense of purpose driven by the knowledge that they are working in concert with other young people around the world.”

Elevating the voices of young leaders and connecting them with other like-minded individuals are both priorities for the Network, Hoyt said.

These goals were echoed by Chau Au, a member of the Network’s steering committee and a student at the University of Technology Sydney.

Au expanded on what he hopes young leaders can get out of this initiative.

“Big impacts that I think that will have for young, aspiring leaders who attend is the ability to collaborate and work in partnership by looking at a bigger picture (thinking and exploring opportunities outside the box) on the context and nature from local, regional, national to the global level,” Au wrote in an email to the Daily.

As a member of the steering committee, Au has concentrated on ways the Network can amplify student voices and organize a conference he described as “unconventional, diverse and impactful.”

Due to COVID-19, the conference may need to be held in a hybrid or fully virtual format, according to Hoyt.

She expressed optimism about this format, and explained that the Network has already begun experimenting with online programming.

“The Network has been holding webinars since April and so we’re gaining experience with virtual events and learning about what works well in that format,” Hoyt said.

This format will not significantly diverge from the Network’s original plans for the TNLC2021 conference.

“The first and final phases of the Next Generation Leaders program would have occurred virtually even under normal circumstances,” Hoyt said.

Au shared that he is looking forward to networking at the conference.

“I do hope to attend the TNL2021 and don’t mind whether in person or virtually,” Au said. “I do most look forward to meeting and networking with new faces & [gathering] insights and experiences.”

According to the Network’s website, the young leaders will explore four subthemes: “pandemic recovery and resilience,” “innovations in gender equity,” “structured listening methods and civic engagement futures.”

Hoyt spoke to the importance of the Mastercard Foundation in designing and implementing conference programming for the Next Generation Leaders Initiative.

“Mastercard Foundation is truly a partner – we have been working closely with several staff to design and launch the program; we will work together as partners through the selection, implementation and evaluation process as well,” Hoyt said.

“The top priority for them is quality programs that support young people.”

The foundation recognizes the importance of young leaders, according to a statement by Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation.

“Young people globally are confronting some of the most pressing and complex issues of our time: bringing them to the foreground, calling for change, and offering practical solutions,” Roy wrote in a statement.

Roy also expressed excitement about what young leaders can achieve when they come together to share strategies and support one another.

The conference and the Next Generation Leaders Initiative will be held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, 2021.

A research team from Tufts conducted a study during the initial stay-at-home order this spring and found that the decrease in road traffic led to drastic improvements in air quality.

The study was run by professors Neelakshi Hudda and John Durant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, along with Matt Simon (E’17) and Allison Patton (E’14).

According to the study, traffic reduced significantly during the lockdown, with 71% fewer cars on the road and 46% fewer trucks. The results of the study were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment on Nov. 10.

Patton, a staff scientist at the Health Effects Institute, explained that the COVID-19 lockdown provided the team with a rare opportunity to conduct a natural experiment. “[Natural experiments are] usually related to major changes. Some of the most comparable examples include a ban on sale of coal in Ireland, steel mill and copper smelter strikes in the U.S., the reunification of Germany, and major air quality regulations,” Patton wrote in an email to the Daily. “However, those changes are usually on a more local or regional scale. This global natural experiment will hopefully be a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

According to Durant, the team hypothesized a steep decrease in traffic-related air pollution and set out to measure the amount of decrease and its impact on Somerville’s air quality.

“So what we wanted to do was to characterize air pollution levels during a significant drop off in traffic so we can quantify the relationship between traffic decrease and … air quality improvement,” Durant said.

Patton noted that to gather data, the team drove the Tufts Air Pollution Monitoring Lab, an electric vehicle equipped to monitor air quality, through Somerville on 15 different days between March 24 and May 14.

“The biggest challenges in natural experiment research are getting on the ground quickly and finding the right comparison to make … we were fortunate that the Tufts Mobile Air Pollution Laboratory was ready and able to quickly get in the field during the period of lowest traffic this past spring,” Patton said.

EDITORIAL / page 6

ARTS / page 4

SPORTS / back

Tufts should prioritize student housing this winter

10-year anniversary of Condie’s ‘Matched’

Grading top 5 picks from Wednesday’s NBA draft

see AIR , page 2 NEWS

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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SPORTS

BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, November 20, 2020

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Black carbon pollution released by buses, trucks, found to be lower than expected

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continued from page 1 Durant explained that while the team observed a 70% decrease in ultrafine particles, which are emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles and are associated with many adverse health effects, the decrease in black carbon pollutants, which are emitted by buses and trucks, was smaller because

trucks are still making deliveries in the city.

Hudda highlighted the negative health effects ultrafine particles can cause.

“Ultrafine particles, in general, are associated with a whole bunch of health effects,” Hudda said. “[They are] very small, tiny, so they … can get inside your body and then get systematically dislocated to different, vari-

ous parts of the organs; they can cross that bridge area into the brain [area] generally associated with systemic inflammation.”

Durant said that the findings of the study can be used to make decisions about city planning, as they offer a quantified relationship between traffic and air quality.

“If you reduce traffic by 50%, how much air quality benefit do you get?” Durant said.

The research is also relevant to concerns about air pollution and climate change, especially as states try to emerge from strict lockdowns, according to Hudda.

“We’re going through a phase of the lowest carbon emissions since World War II that we’ve seen in this country, and lots of people are looking at the impacts of all that on air quality,” Hudda said.

ARTS & POP CULTURE

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Friday, November 20, 2020

Condie’s ‘Matched’ maintains eerily prophetic legacy after 10 years

by Elizabeth Sander Arts Editor

It has been a decade since “Matched” (2010), a celebrated young adult novel written

by Ally Condie, was published.

When it first hit the presses, Condie and others had a feeling that it would be successful, but no one could have predicted the prophetic nature of this particular piece of dystopian fiction.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of “Matched,” Condie was joined by New York Times bestselling author and friend Shannon Hale through Porter Square Books to discuss the implications of Condie’s bestseller and the life it has lived since its publication.

Hale expressed how stunned she was by how on point the book seemed to be in addressing many issues that affect us now.

Condie herself “didn’t feel like [she] was being prophetic” in writing “Matched” — she felt she was “just observing” — but it’s impossible not to see how Hale’s statement holds true. In this young adult novel set in a dystopian future, citizens are matched with their “ideal” partners based on DNA and statistics. This idea of a “match” is eerily familiar for many college students who grew up reading Condie’s novel and now find themselves “matching” with romantic partners on dating apps.

Condie explained that “Matched” was based on “the idea of getting to choose who you love.” This is a freedom that characters Cassia, Xander and Ky weren’t guaranteed; they had to make it for themselves, and they’re not alone.

When”Matched” was written in 2008, same-sex marriage was not yet legal in all 50 states, but Condie explained that she wrote the novel “actually feeling very hopeful … [the] dystopian world [of “Matched”] may not come to pass.”

Condie expressed that it’s eerie to revisit this story having seen all the things that did come to pass, for better and worse, since its publication.

The example touched upon at the event was the shared

frustration that there are still leaders who do not believe that fundamental marriage rights should be awarded to the LGBTQ community.

“There are a lot of people who don’t get to choose who they marry — we are still fighting that fight,” Condie said.

Another theme visited in this book was that of how to care — or not, in the case of this story — for the elderly.

Hale described how “Matched” explores “the idea that old people should die so the young can be free,” and in doing so, it illuminates our own society’s leanings toward that dystopian pondering.

Hale continued: “In America, we tend to put old people out to pasture.” With the current health care crisis and the way in which COVID-19 disproportionately affected the elderly in nursing homes, the problem of providing a meaningful place for the elderly in American society is one that doesn’t find a humane remedy in the novel.

This aids in uncovering a truth of dystopian models and why they are so enthralling to readers of any age. Dystopian fictions are “cautionary tales”; Condie encourages readers to ask themselves, “How did we get to that point?” Yet for a novel that is set in America’s dystopian future, it holds that we will need to read closely and use these faulty societal models to hinder us from losing sight of our empathy, our need to care for all people and to ensure love in all forms is acknowledged and respected.

One of Condie’s most enduring takeaways from the decade of comments from her readers is that many of them have sought to find a political agenda in “Matched.” However, Condie cautions readers of weaving the current political system too far into the analysis of the novel. At the end of the day, “Matched” is not an allegory for the American political system, but “an examination of humanity.” As Condie eloquently said, one of the questions driving her writing was “when we’re given the freedom to choose, do we make good

VIA BARNES & NOBLE

The deluxe edition cover of Ally Condie’s “Matched” (2010) is pictured. choices?” There is no clear response in her trilogy, but such complex contemplation makes for a brilliant story of enduring love that proves “a metaphor for the teenage experience.”

Before the closing of the event, both Condie and Hale had to touch on their love for

the young adult genre as a whole. Writing for and about teens means writing for those who will adapt to make change in the world. According to Hale, she loves writing young adult novels because she can see “how much genuine love the writers have for their readers [and] how much they want the

best for them … We want them to be better than us.”

The above event was put on by local bookstore Porter Square Books. This serves as a friendly reminder to support your local independent bookstores this holiday season. They need all they can get to survive the toll this pandemic has taken.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Pop Culture | Friday, November 20, 2020

tuftsdaily.com

TV SHOW REVIEW

HBO’s ‘The Undoing’ has already been done

by Maeve Hagerty Contributing Writer

This review contains spoilers for HBO’s “The Undoing.”

HBO’s newest crime drama, “The Undoing” (2020), follows many of the network’s usual tropes. As an HBO aficionado, I have always enjoyed its often female-centered dramas focusing on how murder and intrigue affect the lives of wealthy families.

However, how many of these shows can HBO actually make?

“The Undoing” focuses on the life of a wealthy family living in Manhattan. Nicole Kidman plays successful psychotherapist Grace Fraser who is married to pediatric oncologist Jonathan (Hugh Grant); together, the couple lives with their young son Henry (Noah Jupe), who attends a prestigious preparatory school. When Elena Alves (Matilda De Angelis), the mother of a poor scholarship student at Henry’s school, is found murdered, Grace’s husband disappears, leading Grace to realize that nothing is as it seems.

When Jonathan becomes the main suspect of the police investigation after knowledge of his affair with Elena becomes public, Grace finds herself struggling to decide if she should believe her cheating husband is guilty of murder when she feels that the man she knows is incapable of such an act. And yet, the miniseries is based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s book titled “You Should Have Known” (2014), so maybe Grace should reconsider her husband’s character.

That being said, the show deviates greatly from the novel.

Only the first four episodes of the six-episode series have hit HBO at the moment, but I found myself watching them with a tired interest. HBO’s previous shows, “Big Little Lies” (2017–) and “Sharp Objects” (2018), stirred intrigue because of their twisted plots and striking cinematogra-

phy, coupled with a whole list of other brilliant production details and actor performances.

While “The Undoing” checks all of the same boxes, it seems to be a rather familiar story in a rather familiar HBO fashion. Grant and Kidman deliver emotional, complex performances with a natural ease, but there doesn’t seem to be anything truly thrilling about the series. It was sold as a sort of sensational murder mystery, yet the only chilling elements throughout the series are the clear unraveling of Grace and her continued visions of Elena, who had taken a bizarre interest in Grace prior to her murder.

That is the biggest issue with “The Undoing”: The drama doesn’t feel very dramatic. When I watched “Big Little Lies,” the flashbacks and scenes of minor characters testifying in police interrogation added to the tension and increased the mystery.

I spent every week after each episode aired wondering who the murderer could be and who they had murdered. In “Sharp Objects,” the same was true of the show’s own murder mystery and additionally true of its strained family dynamics. But “The Undoing” does not deliver this same intrigue. Sure, murder in high Manhattan society is always interesting, but after the first episode the show drags into rather uneventful courtrooms and conversations. It is beautiful and interesting in its own right, but feels too much a stale half-child of HBO’s previous successes.

That being said, the show is by no means a failure. Kidman’s performance is truly impressive, and one can see the tumult buried under the veneer of Grace’s schooled features. The panic, confusion and betrayal she experiences are probably the most remarkable parts of the series simply because of Kidman’s adept portrayal of each. Beyond the acting perfor-

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for “The Undoing” (2020) is pictured. mances, the cinematography — courtesy of Anthony Dod Mantle — is also a success. Mantle takes us through the streets of New York City: glittering with the silk

and jewels of high society yet tainted by the image of Elena Alves’ body sprawled in a puddle of blood inside her messy basement art studio.

“The Undoing” is more of the same with less of the glamour and spectacle. I’d rather rewatch “Big Little Lies” for the third time.

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6 Friday, November 20, 2020

Opinion

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EDITORIAL

Tufts, accommodate students who cannot return home for winter break As this semester comes to a close, students are beginning to make plans for winter break.

While many may be eager to return home for the holidays, some students may not have the same option due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic; international students and students with high-risk family members, for example, could potentially face significant barriers to returning home. Despite these challenges, Tufts will offer limited on-campus housing during winter break, with exceptions for “international students who face travel restrictions” and those facing “significant hardships.”

In determining who will be offered these exceptions, it is critical that the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) take into account the extenuating financial, physical and emotional challenges that students face in this unprecedented time.

Tufts must accommodate students who cannot return home during winter break by expanding on-campus housing to all students who need it.

While the university says that it will make exceptions for students facing significant hardships, it is important to recognize that this promise has not always been fulfilled. Despite having fairly similar requirements to apply for on-campus housing when campus closed in March, the university denied close to half of the housing requests received, leaving students to scramble for last minute housing options. For international students and students in financially challenging situations, limiting housing options was a major cause of stress. With hindsight bias and more time to plan this time around, it is necessary that Tufts learn from its mistakes and open on-campus housing to students that have limited housing options during the break.

Providing sufficient on-campus housing is particularly important due to the extenuating conditions of the pandemic.

With the recent rise in cases in Massachusetts and the United States, college students bring home with them a high risk of spreading the virus. If rejected from on-campus housing, students with vulnerable family members risk exposing them to the virus, especially if they do not have the ability to properly quarantine upon arrival.

Furthermore, students who are high risk themselves may feel safer remaining on campus, where they can maintain control of their surroundings and have

BY JUJU ZWEIFACH access to testing. In any of these situations, it is vital that Tufts provide a safe, reliable option for students to reside during the long winter break.

It is understandable that Tufts faces considerable restrictions that may prevent it from expanding on-campus housing, including reserving time to clean residence halls and giving Tufts staff well-deserved time off after working for months to keep our community safe.

However, by still decreasing

on-campus operations and limiting students to designated residence halls, Tufts can address these restrictions while still allowing more students to remain on campus.

Given the exceptional circumstances that our community faces, it is more necessary than ever that Tufts accommodate students who may face uncertain living situations this winter. Similar to recent years, Tufts should conduct a survey in order to gauge student demand

for winter break housing. When determining who will get to use on-campus facilities, Tufts must take all student concerns into account. Decisions should be made swiftly so that students who are rejected from student housing have adequate time to plan. For these students, it is imperative that the university offer them active support and resources, such as helping arrange transportation, assisting students in finding alternative living plans and providing

financial support to those who cannot afford to travel home.

It should not come down to student groups, much less students themselves, to have to make last-minute housing arrangements. Ultimately, it is up to the university to provide all students with consistent, reliable support and resources, even after the semester ends in December.

In a time when so much is out of our control, it is important that Tufts preserve students’ “home away from home” on the Hill.

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S

Timeline of Philippe Coutinho’s career COUTINHO

continued from page 8 Player of the Year and shortlisted for PFA Young Player of the Year.

November 2016: Best in the Premier League? (Value: Roughly €40 million) The 2015–16 season offered a hike in statistical efficiency for Coutinho, as new manager Jurgen Klopp built a high-pressing team around the Brazilian, who could focus on creativity in a role as a 10. His nonpenalty Xg90 + xA90 hiked from 0.32 to 0.53, and Paris Saint-Germain reportedly had multiple bids rejected in the summer, including one as high as €40 million.

He finally began receiving international attention, buoyed by his selection for the Copa America in the summer of 2016, by scoring a hat trick against Haiti.

Subsequent goals in appearances in World Cup qualifiers that fall, coupled with his highly publicized friendship with Brazilian superstar Neymar, sparked the question: Was Coutinho, now in the conversation for the best player in the Premier League, worthy to join his friend at dream-club Barcelona?

This claim was bolstered by Coutinho’s 10 goal involvements through Liverpool’s first 11 games of the league season that helped perch the club atop the table.

Playing on the wing with even fewer defensive duties than before, British tabloids were now quick to cast him as the league’s best.

Friday, November 20, 2020 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

7

Arnav Sacheti Hoops Traveler

I

The case for Australia

magine that you have just graduated high school and you have your sights set on playing professional basketball in the NBA. The NBA requires that you wait one year before entering. Therefore, you have some decisions to make about how to stay productive during this time.

Now imagine that in spite of never having played an NBA game, you have 5.7 million Instagram followers and half the basketball fans in the country have known about you since your first year of high school.

With that level of fame, the pressure is on and the clock is ticking. What do you choose?

Here’s some guidance.

For most American players, this decision is easy. You spend one year at a college basketball powerhouse, learn from the best college coaches soaking up all you can, and get out.

But Charlotte Hornets NBA guard Lamelo Ball from Chino Hills, Calif., saw value in a less conventional option.

During his gap year, Ball played for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia. At face value this seems like a head scratcher. Ball had committed to playing at the University of California, Los Angeles, a Div. I basketball stalwart, at 13 years old.

Not only would he have entered a program that produced NBA legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he also would have been minutes away from his home.

Being in the United States during the year, he would have garnered more attention from NBA recruiters.

What is the case for Australia, then?

The NBL’s Next Stars program provided this opportunity for Ball and many other current NBA players, such as the Denver Nuggets’ RJ Hampton and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Terrance Ferguson.

The theme of the program is a player-driven one, giving a lot and taking little away.

It gives players $50,000, as well as access to a luxurious home and transportation amenities. Most importantly, it gives players an opportunity to compete and develop.

“Our league is a pretty tough league. Not as known around the world, but there’s not a lot of teams and it’s very physical, very competitive. I think that’s given [Ball] a leg up when you compare him to college guys. I think he’ll be a bit more ready and accustomed to that grown-man basketball,” Andrew Bogut said in a radio interview. Bogut is a former NBA player and one of Ball’s opponents in the NBL. This concept of giving a lot and taking a little is what college basketball in the United States is often criticized for not doing. With no opportunity to make money as well as having to play in systems rigidly imposed by college coaches, more players are seeing international basketball as a stronger career-building option.

Through its program, Australia is primed to attract this market. The opportunity for American players to get out of their comfort zone while still playing in an Englishspeaking country with a high standard of living is a perfect mix.

With the style of play in the NBL being similar to that of the NBA, Ball and many others who pass through Australia should be well equipped for the rigors of the best basketball league in the world. After all, the NBA is still the dream, and right now, Australia, while not in first place yet to college basketball, is quietly inching closer.

What’s your decision?

Arnav Sacheti is a sophomore studying quantitative economics. Arnav can be reached at arnavsacheti@gmail.com

8 Friday, November 20, 2020

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Grading the top 5 NBA draft picks

by David Cooperman Contributing Writer

Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 1): Anthony Edwards, SG, University of Georgia What ultimately turned out to be a pick that caused little debate, Edwards was the right choice for Minnesota. A much better team fit than the two following selections, the swingman should step into the No. 3 scorer role behind Karl AnthonyTowns and D’Angelo Russell, right away. However, this pick still carries some boom-orbust potential, primarily due to Edwards’ suspect jump shot.

He has drawn some comparisons to Andrew Wiggins, which might be a bit scary following the Canadian’s disappointing run in Minnesota. On the flip side, Edwards’ potential is simply too high to pass up here.

The Timberwolves made the right pick. Grade: AGolden State Warriors (No. 2): James Wiseman, C, University of Memphis Wiseman has franchise cornerstone potential, and the fit in Golden State is perfect for his development. However, Wiseman simply has too many question marks to be worth the No. 2 selection. His athleticism will translate immediately into an above-average rim runner, especially with Stephen Curry

and, hopefully, Klay Thompson around him. However, in an era increasingly unkind to traditional bigs, it is fair to wonder whether Wiseman will ever develop the shooting touch and elite defensive production needed to become a superstar.

Still, the Warriors got the prospect they wanted, and, at least in the short term, Wiseman makes the most sense here.

Grade: BCharlotte Hornets (No. 3): Lamelo Ball, PG This pick is great for Charlotte. Sure, Ball has immense bust potential. At this point, the gamble is worth it for Buzz City. Perfect for a franchise devoid of superstar talent, Ball, in popular opinion, has the most upside in the class.

His passing, unlimited shooting range and length (there aren’t too many 6-foot-7-inch floor generals in the league) should translate well, and he certainly has the potential to silence those who question his maturity and drive. Unless the feud between Ball’s father, Lavar, and Michael Jordan continues to fester, this will turn out to be a home run for the Hornets.

Grade: A Chicago Bulls (No. 4): Patrick Williams, SF, Florida State University This was a bold selection; there is no other way of put-

ting it. Passing up on Deni Avdija, Onyeka Okongwu and Obi Toppin in favor of a player that didn’t even start in college is a gamble. Williams shot up draft boards in recent weeks, as teams bought into his upside as a potential cornerstone as a small-ball four. While some might not agree, Williams fits well in Chicago. He should slide in seamlessly as Otto Porter’s future replacement, and if he pans out, the Bulls brass will be hailed as geniuses. However, for a team seemingly not far away from competing for a playoff spot, this selection was risky.

This is the right idea, but the wrong guy. Grade: C+ Cleveland Cavaliers (No. 5): Isaac Okoro, PF, Auburn University Okoro’s defensive prowess is unmatched in this draft, and there is no team in more dire need of help at the less glorious end of the floor than Cleveland.

Whether or not this pick is a hit boils down to one thing: Okoro’s development as a shooter. If he can add a reliable jumper to his game, Okoro can become one of the coveted players at his position. However, on the flip side, a nonshooting, noncreating forward has very limited potential. Ultimately, this selection for Cleveland is a solid pick, although Avdija or Toppin might have been better. Grade: B-

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

No. 3 draft pick Lamelo Ball is pictured.

How Barcelona stunted Philippe Coutinho, part 1

by Jeremy Goldstein Sports Editor

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Philippe Coutinho is pictured in 2018 during the FIFA World Cup.

The post-Neymar vacuum at FC Barcelona has swallowed up more souls than even Lionel Messi could save.

Arrivals Ousmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann, Malcom and the mercurial Philippe Coutinho have fallen well short of expectations and fees. Not only was Barcelona clearly in need of an attacking threat to replace the outgoing Neymar following his shocking and record-breaking transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in summer 2017, but every selling club on the market was also ready to sell high on prized assets.

No club danced to Barcelona’s desperate waltz better than Liverpool FC, which magnificently gallivanted Coutinho’s fee up from the sub-€40 million value it had in summer 2016 to a reported €160 million just a year and a half later. How did Michael Edwards, the Liverpool FC sporting director, and company pull off such a stunt? Let’s track the rise and fall of Coutinho’s transfer value since his days as a tricky youngster in Brazil.

June 2010: Arrival at Inter Milan (Value: €4 million in 2008) Flourishing in the Vasco da Gama youth system in his native city of Rio, Inter Milan, led by José

Mourinho, signed the 16-year-old Coutinho for €4 million in 2008.

After two years on loan in Brazil, the teenager joined the team in the summer of 2010 on the back of Inter’s treble-winning season.

Despite Massimo Moratti, the former chairman of Inter Milan, saying “Coutinho is the future of Inter,” the Brazilian played just 28 times in the next 18 months, scoring twice and struggling with the language barrier.

January 2012: Frustration, loan to Espanyol (Value: Roughly €9 million) RCD Espanyol is the little brother in a city featuring the team Coutinho always dreamed of playing for when he was a kid in Brazil idolizing Ronaldinho: Barcelona. The club’s young manager, Mauricio Pochettino, played a high-pressing 4–2–3–1, a formation and game style more suited to Coutinho than the rigid style of Rafael Benitez, manager of Inter Milan. Six goal involvements in just 16 games, including a memorable brace in a 5–1 demolition of Rayo Vallecano, saw Coutinho boost his stock.

A return to Inter Milan, however, offered little opportunity for game time. Bids began flying in for the mercurial magician, including from Southampton FC, now managed by Pochettino.

However, at the behest of former manager Benitez, Liverpool

came in with an £8.5 million offer in the January window; Coutinho, blinded by the glam of Anfield, selected the Scouse side.

May 2015: Coutinho voted Liverpool Player of the Season (Value: Roughly €30 million) Coutinho was a key cog in Liverpool’s title-challenging 2013–14 team under manager Brandon Rogers, playing either as a center midfielder in a 4–4–2 diamond or on the wing in a 4–3–3. His signature bent-over, right-footed curler in the far corner that’s such a staple of his game today made a grand appearance in a crucial 3–2 April victory over eventual-champions Manchester City FC, as he bent a ball in from the top of the box past keeper Joe Hart following a Vincent Kompany “slice.”

With talisman Luis Suárez sold before the 2014–15 season, Coutinho was given a mandate further forward. The Brazilian’s play still featured maddening inconsistency and moments of flash instead of sustained brilliance. His goals and assists tally inched only from 13 to 14 in all competitions, despite playing close to 1,500 more minutes. Thanks to some late-minute heroics on the road to a FA Cup semifinal, Coutinho was voted Liverpool see COUTINHO, page 7