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What is the story?
Barcelona midfielder Coutinho has put Manchester United and PSG on red alert after his recent comments about his future at Barcelona. The 26-year-old Brazilian didn’t want to commit his long-term future with the Catalan side after helping them to reach the 12th consecutive quarter-finals in the Champions League.
In case you didn’t know….
The Barcelona ace had a good start to life in Spain but as time progressed, he looked out of touch and a bit shaky in the famous Blaugrana colors. The Brazilian midfielder struggled to justify the massive £142 million transfer fees paid by Barcelona in the winter of 2018.
Since his arrival at Barcelona, in such a short time he has played as a winger, left-sided and also a right-sided midfielder and this exactly sums his career up for the Catalan side. In 47 appearances this season, Coutinho has only scored 11 goals and assisted 7 times and for a player of Coutinho’s caliber, the numbers are well below par.
The speculation about his future intensified last week after some of the reports from English and French media which suggested that Coutinho might be on his way out from the Camp nou.
The heart of the matter…
In the post-match interview after the game Coutinho said:
"In the last few weeks, months even, I've not been playing well. But I still want to improve.
"I came to Barcelona to give my best. I live for the moment. You never know what the future holds. I am happy with my performance today."
There is a possibility that Barcelona might want to offload the Samba star if a right bid is made because there is a clause in Coutinho’s contact which suggests that Barcelona have to pay Liverpool £4.4 million every time Coutinho makes 25 La Liga appearance up to 100 appearances.
What’s Next?
It will be fascinating to see how the story develops and what lies ahead in the future for the much-talked former Liverpool star. There is also a buy-out clause in Coutinho’s contract of €400 million and whether Manchester United or PSG can afford this huge amount remains to be seen.
