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What’s the story?
Barcelona have made move to sign Philippe Coutinho once again. According to the Daily Mail, the Catalan side have made a whopping €80 million for the Brazilian.
Ernesto Valverde is desperate to sign the Liverpool star and has asked the club to sign him up at any cost. Jurgen Klopp however, is not interested in selling him at any cost and is trying to build a team around him.
"Yes, we can say that [he's not for sale]. But this is not just since this morning or yesterday - I'm not sure it was different at any time. I'm not surprised that any club is interested in players of Liverpool. I think a few people in the room are more surprised. It's not a compliment, it's obvious that people see we have good players. But a very important message maybe, is that we are not a selling club. We believe in working together, we believe in developing together, we believe in using our basis, we want to make the next step together, and for this, we need to stay together." said Jurgen Klopp.
In case you didn’t know...
Andres Iniesta is set to leave Barcelona at the end of next season and Valverde is keen on signing a long term replacement. Coutinho has been linked with a move to Camp Nou for a very long time and is not their #1 target.
Coutinho signed a new contract at Liverpool earlier this year. He's extended it until 2022 and has made it clear that he wants to remain at Anfield.
The heart of the matter
Barcelona were keen on signing Marco Verrtii this summer but Paris Saint-Germain are in no mood to sell him. The Catalan club made several bids for him but every single one of them got rejected.
They moved on to make a move for Coutinho again but that too got rejected. Liverpool have made it clear that they are not going to listen to any more offers for him as well.
What’s next?
Barcelona will now make one last move for both Verratti and Coutinho. However, both clubs are not willing to listen to any of the offers and the bids would be rejected straight away.
Author’s Take
Barcelona are wasting their time by bidding for Coutinho. Verratti is someone who has openly admitted his interest in joining Barcelona and would be the more likely option.
