Barcelona are hoping that Newcastle United’s takeover by a Saudi Arabian investment firm will go through so that they can sell Philippe Coutinho to them this summer.
The Spanish giants are desperate to offload Coutinho in this transfer window after giving up on their record purchase, who has spent the season on loan at Bayern Munich.
They had been hopeful that Bayern would activate a clause in his loan deal to turn his move into a permanent one, but the German champions have elected not to do so.
Barça have therefore been looking around Europe to try and find a suitor, with the Premier League looking like his most likely destination.
Newcastle have been named among the potential buyers, with it believed they would go on a considerable summer spend should their takeover by new investors go through.
And according to Marca, Barcelona are hoping that will be the case as they are desperate to offload Coutinho to the Magpies this summer.
The newspaper explains that so far Barça have struggled to find a suitor for Coutinho and while there are ‘several suitors’ nobody has ‘taken the step’ to sign him.
Their chance of selling before June 30th are minimal because Coutinho’s price tag and his contract are high.
Thus it will take a significant amount to secure his signature and Barcelona are hoping that Newcastle’s new owners will be able to match both.
They have the ‘sufficient economic support’ to do so and complete a transfer of that ‘magnitude’ according to the newspaper.
Their takeover will have to be ratified by the Premier League, who are yet to rule on the potential acquisition amid various concerns involving Saudi Arabian ownership in the league.
