Brazilian star Philippe Coutinho has established himself as a mainstay of Liverpool’s attack, since signing for the club in 2013 in a £8.5m deal from Serie A side Inter Milian. The 23-year-old scored 12 goals and registered 7 assists this season in the Premier League, and has been lethal in big games for Liverpool.
A week ago, French magazine Le 10 Sport reported Paris-Saint Germain are interested in signing Philippe Coutinho, and it was only a matter of time other big clubs came in for him. In fact, a few days later reports also suggested Barcelona are also keen on the Liverpool star, and believe he is the perfect player to support Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar.
Le 10 Sport claimed Paris-Saint Germain have already contacted Coutinho’s representatives and have made their intentions quite clear. The response they got from Coutinho’s camp has also been positive, despite the player signing a new contract last season.
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The chance of playing in the Champions League at Paris-Saint Germain could also be tempting for Coutinho, after the Reds missed out on Europe’s elite competition. The French giants are also prepared to pay as much as €60m for the player, but need to sell some of the existing non-EU players first, as the three slots are already taken up.
Spanish daily Marca also joined in suggesting Barcelona are very much interested in signing the player, and that Liverpool have already rejected a bid of around £23m from Paris-Saint Germain.
Marca say Paris-Saint Germain’s bid of £23m is ‘nowhere enough’ to tempt Liverpool into selling Coutinho, and the door is open for Barcelona to step in. Frankly, it’s very much Liverpool’s decision to make, and it’s very unlikely they’d want to sell Coutinho, after the arrival of Jurgen Klopp at the club, as they’d instead want to support him.
There is nothing that suggests Coutinho isn’t happy at Liverpool, and wants to leave. As for the interest from Barcelona, which could be tempting for any player in the world, it’s very unlikely the Catalan giants would want to invest money on the Brazilian this summer, as they don’t really have the money.
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It’s no secret Barcelona have finances to settle, and would rather concentrate on signing a couple of defenders, and a central midfielder, so a transfer to Barcelona can be ruled out this summer.
Liverpool would ideally want to sign a couple of quality players this transfer window, and keep the existing ones to support Jurgen Klopp, and a sale of Coutinho doesn’t really make sense at the moment.
The player could force a transfer, which is also unlikely, but as we said with four years left in his contract, it’s very much Liverpool’s decision to make, and nothing suggests they’d want to sell one of their best players at the moment.
