Unable to secure a place in Bundesliga and La Liga, Philippe Coutinho is moving closer to a scenario that will see him wearing a Premier League jersey when the next season starts. And if the reports are true, the Barcelona outcast will most likely suit up with Chelsea as the club is said to be in the lead to sign the Brazilian playmaker.
Coutinho has reportedly attracted the attention of Blues manager Frank Lampard, and the latter has been monitoring the winger for some time now. Supposedly, Lampard plans to bring in the 27-year-old attacker to Stamford Bridge to beef up Chelsea's scoring potentials.
Lampard considers Coutinho a perfect fit for the Blues and according to Metro, the Stamford side is now leading the race to sign the Brazil international as Arsenal, Leicester City, and Liverpool have all dropped out.
It appeared that the huge turnoff is Barcelona's £71 million asking price, and said to be the same reason Bayern Munich opted out of the chance to sign the forward permanently. Coutinho was sent on loan to the Bavarians and will end his spell in June but the German side is unwilling to offer a deal.
The Barca man, however, is also available for another loan and any interested club can take him for £10 million plus his weekly salary of £250,000. It would seem Lampard is ready to accept these terms and give Coutinho another shot to prove his quality.
To be clear, the Blues moving to land the Brazilian is justified by his performance while playing for Liverpool. Mirror noted that while at Anfield, Coutinho showed what he is capable of.
Headlining for the Reds, the Brazilian was named by the Reds as Player of the Year twice and his exploits caught the attention of Barcelona. Before his exit in January 2018, Coutinho was considered as one of the stars in the Merseyside club.
This history and the flashes of his brilliance with Barcelona and Bayern appeared to be sufficient for Lampard to give Coutinho the chance to resurrect his struggling football career.
In a recent interview, Kia Joorabchian, Coutinho's agent, confirmed that he had made contacts with Chelsea and that his client has expressed deep interest to play again in the Premier League, where the player shone the most during his days with Liverpool.
"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," the agent was reported as saying.
However, there remains a possibility that Coutinho could return to Camp Nou as hinted recently by Barcelona boss Quique Setien. Should that happen, Barca legend Rivaldo urged his compatriot to take up on the chance to prove that he deserves playing for the Catalans.
