Barcelona are set to ramp up their pursuit of Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho this week with club directors arriving on Merseyside.
This one just isn’t going away until the summer window ends, is it?
The Daily Mail report today that Barcelona are set to ramp up their pursuit of Philippe Coutinho as club directors arrived on Merseyside this morning in an “attempt to close the deal so the player can debut against Real Madrid this Sunday.”
The publication claim that the Reds have already turned down two bids of £72m and £80m for the Brazilian no.10 but that the Catalans believe a third bid could make the transfer happen.
The European giants are said to have considered upping their bid to £100m for Coutinho after receiving a whopping £198m by selling countryman Neymar to Paris Saint Germain.
Positively, however, the Daily Mail reaffirm that Coutinho will not look to force a transfer, preferring to remain respectful and wait to see if the clubs can reach a deal amicably. With no release clause in his contract and Jürgen Klopp confident that he does not have to sell the player, this surely leaves all of the cards in Liverpool’s hand.
The manager has already previously hit out at suggestions Barcelona’s officials could meet with the player, telling them not to “waste their time.”
“I’ve nothing to say. I cannot talk about this just because a Barcelona guy starts talking,” Klopp said less than a week ago.
“Did he say they come to Liverpool and do business? Something like this? They want to come over? They are funny. I don’t want things like this.”
Coutinho has scored 34 goals and assisted a further 29 since arriving on Merseyside in 2013 and has gone from strength to strength under manager Jürgen Klopp who will be desperate to hold onto him for at least one more year.
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