Time at Barcelona has not gone as expected for Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian joined the side in the middle of the 2017-18 season after a drawn out saga with Liverpool.
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Only a few seasons removed and the Catalans have more or less resigned themselves to the fact that it will be very difficult to find another team for Coutinho.
Barcelona fielding very few offers for the attacking midfielder.
According to Diario AS, Coutinho is set for yet another opportunity at the club for the simple fact that there are no other teams seriously interested in him. At the moment, he is recovering in Brazil from an injury he suffered in late December of last year.
His recuperation process has gone slower than expected and suffered a setback during it that ruled him out for the rest of the season.
The idea when the season ended was to move him on as he is one of many players who are costing the Catalans quite a lot in terms of wages. Any chance of that plummeted after he had to have another surgery on his knee.
It is unlikely any club is going to pay a significant fee due to both the injury and the form he showed when he returned to Barcelona after his loan spell with Bayern Munich.
Manager Ronald Koeman was instrumental in keeping him last season and despite playing relatively well at the beginning of the season, Coutinho’s form fell and eventually lost his spot on the team to Pedri.
While he has been rumored with a move back to the English Premier League, Barca would have to be willing to accept a fraction of what they originally paid to acquire him.
Arsenal are said to be one of the teams interested though manager Mikel Arteta is concerned with how he bounces back from his knee injury. Leicester City is another side rumored to be interested. But at this point, that’s all it is, simply rumors.
Coutinho’s future is going to come down to what president Joan Laporta, and his board, want to do. They’ve ruled out sending him out on loan again so they are down to two choices: sell him or keep him.
He’s Barcelona’s most expensive signing to date. A signing that, unless something miraculous occurs, will also go down as one of the club’s worst.