Barcelona: Chelsea join list of suitors for Philippe Coutinho

Chelsea are the latest club to be linked with the talented Brazilian due to the uncertainty over his future at the club.

Barcelona’s decision to splash out £142 million on Philippe Coutinho is increasingly looking questionable as the Brazilian isn’t a starter due to not being comfortable as a central midfielder while also lacking the attacking output of Ousmane Dembele so he has been unable to displace him from the left-wing role.

According to the Daily Express, Chelsea have made an enquiry about Coutinho’s availability with the quoted amount rumoured to be £100 million as they are set to rival Manchester United for his signature. However, the 26-year-old is happy at Barca so he is currently willing to stay and fight for a place which makes sense considering the status of the club and the fact that he is much more willing to win major trophies there due to the quality of players surrounding him such as Lionel Messi.

This would be a significant loss on a player they signed last January even if this potential transfer doesn’t happen until the summer. There is a lot of uncertainty over Ernesto Valverde’s future so he could be gone in the summer which would make it wise to let the new manager decide where the Brazilian fits in his future plans. A more progressive-minded coach could potentially get him to adjust to a central midfield role by improving his positional discipline which would aid Barcelona’s build-up play.

Cashing in on him would give Barcelona funds to pursue other major targets with Neymar being one of the rumoured names as he looks to move back to Catalonia due to his move to PSG not going as desired. This should be avoided due to how much of an impact his departure had as well as how much it would unbalance the team fitting him into the front three.

The Blues are preparing for the exit of Eden Hazard who is likely to join Real Madrid in the summer as he looks to make the best use of his peak years. A deal has already been agreed for Christian Pulisic so Coutinho would add to their creative options, although he could have the same issues adapting to Maurizio Sarri’s rigid philosophy as he has at Barcelona.

Coutinho has provided six goals and five assists in 1712 minutes across all competitions which isn’t a bad return and he does add to the variety of forward options so it would be best to keep patience with him in order to see how he develops. However, he does need to work on his decision-making in the final third as he can be very predictable with his actions at times such as his propensity to cut inside and shoot from the edge of the box.