Barcelona are desperate to sell Philippe Coutinho this summer to avoid having to pay even more money to Liverpool as part of the deal that saw him move to Spain in January 2018.
According to Sport, who labelled the Coutinho deal the most ruinous in Barca’s history, the club are keen to act before he reaches 100 appearances, triggering another £20million payment.
After returning from a year on loan at Bayern Munich, where he scored 11 goals and won the Champions League despite being a peripheral figure in Hansi Flick’s squad, Coutinho has failed to make much headway back at his parent club.
It was widely assumed that selling Coutinho, even for an initial £105million fee, would negatively impact a Liverpool team that seemed to be coming together under Jurgen Klopp’s leadership.
Liverpool’s style of play adjusted to account for the loss of Coutinho’s creative gifts, but it arguably contributed to them becoming even more ruthlessly efficient both on and off the ball.
The Brazilian international has been linked with Arsenal and Leicester City, with a fee of £35million believed to be enough to secure his signature.
