As revealed by the French media earlier this week, Neymar would have asked Paris Saint Germain to sign a few players so he joins the club. One of them would be his long time friend, Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho.
But it seems Barcelona are trying to reverse the situation now. Reliable Brazilian website Globo Esporte has some updates today saying the Catalan club have advanced in their negotiations for the Liverpool midfielder.
It’s claimed Brazilian Barcelona representative André Cury was in London on Monday to meet Kia Joorabchian and Giuliano Bertolucci. They are agents of Coutinho and Paulinho, another player Barcelona are keen on.
Globo Esporte says the duo’s wish is to sign for Barça, so the personal agreements won’t be hard to find. The problem is Liverpool and Guangzhou Evergrande don’t want to sell.
It’s claimed that for Coutinho, Barcelona made a €70m offer, with another €10m in bonuses. But the Reds are demanding something around €100m.
For Paulinho, the bid is of €20m + €5m, even more than the amount paid by the Chinese side to buy him from Tottenham in 2015. But they are not looking for a deal.
The talks are said to be going on, and the Catalan side are ‘optimistic’ about finding agreements for both.
Of course, Barcelona can be as optimistic as they want, and Coutinho can be keen, but it’s Liverpool’s call.
