Should Liverpool's Coutinho be a part of a strong Brazil squad?

Philippe Coutinho has had a fanstastic 14 months since joining Brendan Rodgers and co from Inter Milan for a fee around £8 million in January 2013. But have his performances been enough to secure his plane ticket to Rio to join arguably the favourites for this years World Cup. With 3 goals and 4 assists to his name from 23 appearances, he doesn't sound like a bad option for Brazil, but with stiff competition from the likes of Chelsea's Oscar, Shakhtar's Bernard and Inter Milan's Hernanes, it will be a struggle for Coutinho to gain that place, but can he do it?

He missed 2 months of the 2013/14 season with a shoulder injury, but since his return in November, he has been a frequent starter and a key man for the reds attack. He's turned up in the big games, and the infamous partnership of Suarez and Sturridge have been thriving off his consistently brilliant service. But what does Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari think of his performances? Perhaps he thinks he deserves a chance on the greatest stage of them all, or perhaps he thinks he should stay in the shadows of Suarez and Sturridge for another 4 years to mature and become a better player.

As mentioned earlier, he faces stiff competition from numerous other attacking midfielders. The first of these is Oscar, Chelsea star, who has been capped 29 times for the brazil squad, a fantastic achievement for the 22-year old. Oscar has been a key player in Chelsea's title challenge and has shone in all of his games. This makes it highly doubtful that Coutinho can push Oscar of the Brazil squad.

Secondly, Shakhtar Donetsk's Bernard, a 21-year old with 10 caps and 1 goal under his belt for the Brazil squad. After moving from Atletico Miniero to Shakhtar this summer for £22 million, he's had his chance in the Champions League and hasn't failed to impress. He's been a key man for Shakhtar this season and has been compared to the likes of Ronaldinho. So again, Coutinho will definitely struggle to knock him out of the squad for the World Cup.

But perhaps Coutinho can push Hernanes out of the squad. the 28-year old has not been fantatsic this season, so maybe, just maybe, the reds Brazilian starlet can push his way past Hernanes to gain his place in the squad for the World Cup on Brazil's home soil. But only time will tell, and we'll see who Scolari chooses by the end of May.