Philippe Coutinho will end his loan deal soon with Bayern Munich but the Barcelona man is still unsure where he is headed next. The Brazilian has been tagged for sale or for loan signing by Camp Nou but to date, no deal has been agreed with a receiving club. Coutinho is said to be a target by Arsenal but an agreement could be unlikely.
Earlier reports indicated the Gunners have reached out to Barcelona to explore the possibility of getting the services of the Brazil international for next season. Mikel Arteta is believed to be interested in a loan arrangement but the terms laid out by the Catalans proved a turn-off.
According to ESPN, the Brazilian winger is ready for a loan move if Arteta is willing to pay a fee of £10 million for the deal to be finalized. Then Barca is said to be demanding that Coutinho's weekly salary of £250,000 has to be fully covered by the Gunners.
Given the financial pressures hounding the Emirates side now, which is true for all football organizations in Europe, the report said it is highly likely that Arsenal will say no. The same is expected from other clubs supposedly working to bring the former Liverpool star back to the Premier League.
That should mean Manchester United and Tottenham would no longer pursue talks on acquiring Coutinho. However, Chelsea might still negotiate for a more acceptable deal but as noted by the same report: "No club is ready to accept Barca's terms."
While it is a remote possibility, there is still a chance for Coutinho to suit up with the Gunners. The team recently forged a deal with all the players that will lead to a salary reduction of 12.5%. If this can apply to the Barcelona outcast then Arteta could come up with some genius arrangement that will accommodate a loan deal.
In any case, the door to where Coutinho will be heading next is yet to be opened wide for the 27-year-old. For Barcelona, the attacker has been marked for offloading and as far as Bayern is concerned, the player's £105 million price tag is just plain pricy.
A return to Liverpool, which Coutinho left in January 2018, seemed out of the question too. According to Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, reinserting the winger to his roster will only create disruption, which is the last thing his club needs.
Per Metro, Kia Joorabchian, Coutinho's agent, has confirmed that a deal on his client is unlikely anytime soon with the football world preoccupied with financial and safety issues due to the still intensifying coronavirus pandemic.
"At the moment, we have not spoken to anybody about any deals whatsoever," Joorabchian was reported as saying.
