Joe Allen believes Yaya Toure’s admission that Liverpool gave him his toughest match of the season is evidence of the improvement the club have made under Brendan Rodgers.

The Reds held the Premier League champions to a 2-2 draw when the two sides met at Anfield earlier in the season and, with the corresponding fixture taking place at the Etihad on Sunday, Allen hopes to take all three points.
“Most people would agree that we deserved to win that game,” he told the club’s official website.

“We didn’t quite have that bit of luck that sometimes you need to see games like that through.

“For the likes of Yaya Toure to say that it’s the toughest game he’s played in is probably the credit that this team deserves in terms of the way we can play. Let’s hope we can do that again.”

Allen is unable to test himself once more against the big Ivorian as Toure is currently away at the Afcon, but the 22-year-old insists he relishes the physical challenge of competing against players of the Ivorian’s size.

“It’s a massive task coming up against the physical nature of a player like him. They are the challenges that you look forward to,” he added.

“It’s a no-brainer that on a physical level I’m going to be able to compete with him, but you have to find solutions to get around that. That’s what I’ll be working on.”

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has hailed the club’s latest signing Philippe Coutinho, describing his compatriot as “a proper Brazilian”.

The 20-year-old, who has been capped once by Brazil at senior level, completed an €10 million move from Inter to Anfield on Wednesday.

And, despite the youngster failing to truly establish himself in Serie A, Lucas expects Coutinho to prove a hit for the Merseyside club both now and in the future.

“Coutinho is a very talented player,” he told reporters. “He is very young but he has a lot of experience already.

“I had the chance to watch him when he got his first cap for Brazil a couple of years ago as we were both in the team.

“He is a proper Brazilian with a lot of skill and he likes to play with the ball and score goals. He had a very good spell at Espanyol when he was on loan last season and I think he will be a great player for the future for us.”

The former Gremio star also expressed his belief that Coutinho will be able to deal with the added physicality of the Premier League.

“I think he will be able to cope,” the 26-year-old continued. “Of course in Italy it’s a different type of game but he has experience of playing in both Serie A and La Liga.

“We hope he settles very quickly. Hopefully he will feel comfortable and play really well for us.”

Lucas went on to reveal that manager Brendan Rodgers had asked him for his thoughts on the player prior to proceeding with the transfer.

“The manager spoke with me but not to ask about his talents as I think he was sure about that already,” he added. “He just wanted to know what I knew about Coutinho as a person. I only had positive things to say.

“Then I spoke with Coutinho a few times. Not to try to convince him to come here but just to tell him about the club and how things work here.

“He felt it was a great opportunity for him to come to the Premier League and we’re happy to have him here. I know he doesn’t speak much English so I will try to help as much as I can to make him feel at home.

“We have Luis, Coates and myself here. We will all try to make him feel really comfortable. We’ll make sure he settles very quickly like Luis and Coates and is able to show his qualities.”

Premier League clubs spent over €139 million in this season’s January transfer window, according to analysis by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, the business advisory firm.

The figure released is more than double that of last year, when spends reached around €70m, but down on that of the 2011 total, €260m.

“Premier League clubs have been relatively restrained in their player transfer fee spending, in spite of the upcoming uplift in their broadcasting revenues of between £20m [€23m] and £30m [€35m] each from next season,” said Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

“Whilst the clubs’ total spending was £120m [€139m], after taking into account transfer income, the Premier League clubs’ net transfer spend was £70m [€81m].

“There were relatively few active spenders in the winter window, with over half of this January’s total transfer spending coming from three clubs.  Winter window activity tends to be driven by the on-pitch competition at the upper and lower ends of the Premier League table.
 
“Clubs are now in a reporting period that will count towards the first assessment of Uefa’s financial fair play break-even requirement for international competition and Premier League clubs are also considering the implementation of additional cost control regulation at a domestic level. 

“Their apparent relative restraint in this transfer window may reflect an increasing focus on clubs achieving more sustainable levels of expenditure relative to revenues.”

Premier League clubs spent around €87m on players from foreign sides, while €29m went on talent from fellow Premier League teams. Meanwhile €23m was used on players from the lower tiers of English football.

QPR, Newcastle and Liverpool accounted for over 50% of the total Premier League spending, while around €41m was exchanged between clubs on deadline day.

As a result of this January’s transfers, Premier League clubs have now splashed over €1.16 billion on new players during the winter window since 2003.