Barcelona acquired Brazilian star, Philippe Coutinho, from Liverpool in 2018, and the cash damage amounted to £142 million. Now the Catalan giants want to be rid of the 27-year-old and will only ask for £75 million from any takers, likely consisting of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool.
The deal is further sweetened by Barca's offer that Coutinho will be available for a loan deal, a trial period if you will, so an outright payment of the transfer fee is not required. And there's more - the loan will also mean that the winger's weekly salary will be discounted.
From £290,000 every week, the receiving club will only need to shell out £145,000 for the Brazil international's wage. Metro said it would that Camp Nou is desperate to ship out Coutinho the soonest. If he cannot be sold outright, then interested parties can take him on loan.
This proposal will be presented before Arsenal and Chelsea, both of which have expressed interest in the attacker, who was sensational while playing for the Reds.
The hope is a return to the Premier League might the be prod Coutinho is looking for to get back to the form that convinced Barcelona two ago that he was a good buy.
Since moving to Spain, it has become a struggle for the Brazilian that after only a season in Catalan, he was sent on a loan agreement to Inter Milan. That spell will end in the summer, and there is no indication from San Siro that Coutinho will be acquired permanently.
And the possibility of returning to Anfield has been shot down by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp. The German said that injecting the winger back to his squad might just cause disruption.
However, former Liverpool star Phil Thompson disagreed with Klopp, insisting that the Merseyside club is missing out on a talented playmaker.
"They are probably looking at that creative midfield player. Would you take Coutinho back? I would, in a heartbeat. I think he's a creative genius. You look back at his Liverpool career and he was absolutely terrific. He's not too old and I still think he could come back," Express reported Thompson as saying.
In any case, Kia Joorabchian, Coutinho's agent, is welcome to the likelihood of the Brazilian playing for a top-flight English club again. He noted that he is a big fan of Arsenal.
"I don't have any preference where the players go. I don't try to push someone to one club or another. Everything is a possibility," Joorabchian said.
"The Premier League is something that he has always enjoyed playing in, and loved playing in, and would probably love to come back and play in," added the agent.
