Sport, the more excitable of the two Catalan sport newspapers, on Sunday claim Liverpool have given up hope and now accept Philippe Coutinho will be joining Barcelona.
It’s stated that during a ‘summit’ held on Friday, Coutinho’s representatives spoke to FSG and that led to the meeting having a ‘very positive’ outcome for Barcelona.
After weeks of pressure from the Brazilian, Sport say Liverpool have finally given in and now ‘give him up for lost’, accepting a sale to Barcelona.
It’s claimed that first Liverpool will sign a replacement for Coutinho, not wanting prices to rocket even further after they’ve received a big fee from Barcelona, then allow the Brazilian to travel to Spain. The man likeliest right now is thought to be Renato Sanches.
Sport say Coutinho will cost Barcelona up to €160m, which would see the fee paid for Ousamane Dembele smashed quickly. The Catalan newspaper also claim the sale is partly being accepted because Jurgen Klopp has failed to bring Coutinho back into the group fully.
For much of the Coutinho saga, Sport have been dismissive and even disrespectful of Liverpool, and their claims should be taken in that context.
The same newspaper said earlier this month that Liverpool would be forced to seriously consider, and probably accept, any offer touching €100m, and that was proven wrong.
The Catalan newspaper added: ‘Little by little the work of representatives of the Catalan club has been undermining the leaders of Liverpool.
It should not be forgotten that the British club is run by a fund, Fenway Sports Group, led by John Henry, which is basically driven by money and profits. Already in January he was about to sell the club to a Chinese conglomerate for €900m.’
