Earlier this month, we covered claims from Sport that Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have cooled their interest in Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho.
The 27-year-old is currently on loan at Bayern Munich and the ongoing Bundesliga season, which resumed last week, is expected to finish on June 27th.
Journalist Miguel Rico, writing on the last page of Mundo Deportivo, contradicts what was reported by Sport on Chelsea’s interest.
He further adds the Blues have contacted the Catalan club and the former Liverpool star’s agent Kia Joorabchian.
The Brazilian international ‘wants’ to return to the Premier League this summer and would give ‘preference’ to joining Frank Lampard’s side over other suitors.
Rico states the La Liga winners have set an asking price of €80-90m for the playmaker, but the Blaugrana are ready to sell the playmaker to the club which comes closest to meeting their demands.
Barca’s idea is to sell the South American by end of next month and Mundo end their report by stating, ‘we are facing the closest thing to a Coutinho auction’.
It’s to be noted the newspaper doesn’t mention the possibility of the player going out on loan, which surely still remains.