Barcelona appear to have quite a bitter approach when it comes to Philippe Coutinho returning to Liverpool. The Brazilian looks likely to leave Catalonia.
This comes from Mundo Deportivo. The Spanish outlet believes that there is a chance of Coutinho returning to Anfield – but only permanently.
Barcelona won’t entertain the idea of loaning the player back to Liverpool, apparently. They paid around £142m for Coutinho back in 2018, of course, and it appears they don’t want to just hand him back.
But Coutinho to Liverpool is an option, according to Mundo Deportivo. They say that Barcelona do feel the door is open there once he finishes his loan with Bayern Munich.
Coutinho is currently in Bavaria until June 30th, when his deal expires. Bayern won’t take up their option to make it permanent, however, meaning the player will head back to Barcelona.
What RTK has to say
This comes across as pretty bitter, given that reports elsewhere claim Barcelona are actively trying to loan him out. In fact, the Telegraph claims the club are happy to subsidise his £200k-a-week wages to make it happen.
But not for Liverpool, it seems. If the Reds want him, they’ll have to front the cash – something that seems near impossible right now.
Given that Liverpool recently gave up on Timo Werner for financial reasons, the idea of them paying big money to re-sign Coutinho just wouldn’t make sense.
In truth, why he do think this approach is bitter, we can’t blame Barcelona for not wanting to loan him to Liverpool. Reverse the roles and we’d almost certainly feel the same way.
If the Reds got ahold of him, Barcelona would have effectively handed Liverpool money while the Reds get one of his prime years. That would be a bitter pill for anyone to swallow.
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