Barcelona may be end up being stuck with unwanted Brazilian star.
Barcelona find themselves in a dilemma with regards to Philippe Coutinho. The club’s offseason plans are to offload a number of high wage earners including the Brazilian.
However, they’ve been thrown a wrench in their plans as his agent has admitted that at the moment he has not had any talks with respect to his client.
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According to Diario Sport, Kia Joorabchian spoke to TalkSPORT, where he gave an update on the future of Coutinho.
"“As for the transfer market, right now we have not spoken with anyone about possible agreements. I think at the moment clubs are focused on the pandemic and how football can safely return.”“Where Philippe plays and who will sign him is something that will come after.”"
One of the few rumors involving Coutinho linked him with a possible move to Newcastle United. But that was conditioned in that it would be a possibility if the new ownership took control.
If that happened, then their plan would have been to make the ex-Liverpool man the face of their new regime. It also hinged on Mauricio Pochettino taking over.
Coutinho is currently on loan at Bayern Munich but may not play for the Bavarian giants again after suffering a knee injury. Prior to his injury, Bayern had seemingly made their decision on him and were going to opt against making the move permanent.
What the words of his agent mean to Barcelona is they may now find themselves backed into a corner where they may be forced to keep him if no offers roll through or take a significantly heavier loss on a sale than they were previously expecting.
Mundo Deportivo previously reported that the Catalans want to sell him for no less than €100 million. Given the uncertainty of the market and the potential consequences of the pandemic, the club may need to get to grips with the idea that they simply aren’t going to get that.
Whether or not he is ultimately sold will depend then on how desperate Barcelona are to move him on and how big of a hit they are willing to take.