FC Barcelona confirms FC Bayern’s interest in Philippe Coutinho at the request of SOCCERSCORE and Goal. However, it is difficult for the Brazilian national player to move to Munich.
“There is interest on the part of the Bavarians, but no agreement,” said a spokesman for the Spanish master on Tuesday afternoon. When asked how far the negotiations had progressed, he said: “There is nothing more to say at the moment”.
Coutinho himself trained quite normally with his teammates on Tuesday. However, the departure of the midfielder is only a matter of time. Barca has to earn money after the 250 million Euro star purchases of Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, Junior Firpo and Neto in order to bring a currently unlikely recall action of the change-willing PSG star Neymar into the realm of the possible. Coutinho is considered the first sales candidate due to his average performances in the past season and his high annual salary of eleven million euros.
Bad for the Bavarians: As SOCCERSCORE and Goal learned from Barca’s environment, the Spanish champion is primarily working on a move from Coutinho to Paris. The goal: Coutinho should reduce the transfer fee from Neymar. According to media reports, Eric Abidal, the Catalan sports director, travelled to the French capital on Tuesday to boost the deal. Should he break up and PSG coach Thomas Tuchel, for example, insist on the commitment of another Barca player (Ousmane Dembele, Ivan Rakitic and Nelson Semedo are allegedly still being traded), the Bavarians could become the beneficiaries of Coutinho Poker.
However, there is a second problem for the Munich-based company: a change on a loan basis would not offer the Spanish master any added value from an economic point of view. Therefore the first offer of the Bavarians – allegedly a two-year Leihe without obligatory purchase option in the connection – is not to have met according to the Mundo Deportivo with Gegenliebe with the bosses of the Catalans and the management of the player. Iranian Kia Joorabchian and Brazilian Giuliano Bertolucci represent the 27-year-old’s interests. She prefers to place him with a club that helps him find his way back to his old strength.
The London clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, which were trading immediately before the closure of the English transfer window, also reportedly only wanted to borrow Coutinho instead of commit it firmly. Barca and Coutinho’s consultants are therefore expected to make every effort to conclude a firm contract with PSG over the next two weeks.
The Bavarians are therefore currently only crystallizing out as a B variant. However, this could change quickly if either the Neymar transfer to Barca fails – Real Madrid is supposed to get involved in the poker of Coutinho’s fellow countryman – or if the Munichers make a convincing offer in the form of a binding purchase or at least in the form of a loan with a substantial rental fee.
The only question is: How great is the interest of the German record holder in Coutinho? Was the contact an aggressive push like Leroy Sane or just a light knock like Hakim Ziyech? In theory, after James Rodriguez’s departure, Munich would benefit from a strengthening of the tens position. On the other hand, coach Niko Kovac wants to play with a 4-3-3 in the new season – without real tens, but with two afters. Coutinho would then probably occupy one of these half-positions.
He has proven to Barca that he is not an option for the wings. But he lacks the speed and the assertiveness in the one-on-one, his strengths in passing play come to the fore much better in the centre.
