Arsenal are supposedly leading the chase to sign Philippe Coutinho this summer, with Chelsea and Manchester United trailing, as reported by Mundo Deportivo.
The Brazil international has struggled to settle since leaving Liverpool in a monster £142 Million deal, and is believed to be in the shop window.
Barcelona are supposedly willing to accept an £8.97 Million fee to loan the midfielder out for the coming season, with clubs not believed to be willing to pay the asking price to sign him in the coming window.
The Catalan club are believed to prefer a sale, but transfer budgets are expected to much slimmer than in previous years thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, so the club will hope to agree an option to buy in the loan which will allow clubs time to raise the funds.
Coutinho has spent the current campaign on loan with Bayern Munich in Germany, but has struggled to earn a regular starting spot for the Bundesliga giants, and they are not expected to follow up on a deal.
Our team could definitely profit from an injection of creativity in the summer, and Coutinho could well prove to be a great signing if he could return to the form of his Liverpool days.
The 27 year-old was touted as Liverpool’s best player previously, backed up by his two Liverpool Players’ Player of the Season Award for his performances in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, and was also selected for the PFA Team of the Year in 2014-15 also.
Would Coutinho flourish back in the Premier League? Should our club pull out all the stops to try and sign him?
Patrick
IF there is any truth in this constant and now boring Coutinho long running saga and since this site is determined not to let it go, no matter how many have scorned the prospect of SIGNING him, a one seaon LOAN, at a realistically low figure, would at least make sense. I have many times said there is zero chance of an outright purchase and that is plain.
But a possible, though IMO still most unlikely loan, would make financial and football sense. He IS a top player, even though his career at Barca has stalled. But we are not Barca and don’t remotely aspire to those standards, sadly. So lets hope, even if we cannot believe, it MAY happen. Lets put it this way; if it means he is in the team instead of shirker Ozil, I will be thrilled. So will many others, I imagine.
So Jon, let’s hope we do sign him and immediately sack Arteta. That’s the price Arteta must pay for continually playing the “Shirker” Ozil in EVERY EPL game.
I mean, YOU SEE IT, so why dos’nt Arteta?
He can play with Ozil. Imagine how great it would be if he actually comes to Arsenal and plays with Özil! With Martinelli striking.