Philippe Coutinho is once again being used by Barcelona to fluff their feathers publicly.
Liverpool will be pleased with the way Coutinho has settled back into Liverpool life, following his failed transfer to Barcelona, but won’t be so pleased with the repeat messages and claims coming from Catalonia.
It’s one thing the Catalan press dreaming up a new angle every week, it’s quite another when it comes direct from the club.
Barcelona appear to be on a PR crusade this week to show the world they’re in really good financial health and have been run very well financially over the past couple of years of so. Of course, nearly all of that is down to Neymar moving to PSG and the structure of the payment being upfront, but it still looks pretty when put on a graph for Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Barcelona’s director general Oscar Grau has said to the Spanish media on Wednesday (quoted by Estadio Deportivo): “We are ready to sign Coutinho in January.”
Grau’s point is that there’d be no financial restraint stopping a deal with Liverpool. Barcelona can send a lot of money to Anfield if they so wish, however, it doesn’t guarantee that they actually will.
Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool can do without the distraction for Coutinho, and without Barcelona yapping away at any given opportunity.
