Monday’s front page of Catalan newspaper Sport has a usual suspect on the front cover: Philippe Coutinho.
Since not long after he signed from Liverpool, Barcelona have been looking for a way to part with the Brazilian, and one which doesn’t see them lose too much money.
Barca didn’t really know what they were going to do with Coutinho when he arrived, a scenario which has been repeated with Antoine Griezmann since, and a loan move to Bayern Munich didn’t result in the permanent transfer which was hoped for.
Sport bring Arsenal strongly into the picture again. It’s stated Mikel Arteta’s side are ‘gaining more strength every day’ when it comes to signing Coutinho, with Barcelona wanting to speed things up.
Leicester City and Tottenham are also credited with interest, and it’s stated Coutinho still holds out hope of Liverpool forgiving him and coming to the rescue. However, Sport clearly pick Arsenal out on top.
That’s likely due to Kia Joorabchian, who works with Coutinho and has close relations at Arsenal.
Sport state Coutinho was reluctant at first when it came to the Gunners, because he’d have to take a ‘significant’ pay cut. He then seemed to change his stance, and it’s claimed he’s asked the club for more time to consider the move.
