Helping his side see off Manchester United in the quarter finals of the Champions League with one of his trademark long shots, Coutinho took his tally for the season to 11 goals and five assists in 49 appearances.
However, the Brazilian hasn’t convinced the fans or the press since his arrival, and rumours of an exit have been circulating for a while.
Vague mentions of Manchester United appeared for a while, but the latest, and more serious, links are sending him to Chelsea, who will likely have to replace Eden Hazard with a more experienced player than Christian Pulisic.
After all, Coutinho already knows the Premier League well, having excelled under Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, and El Confidencial in Spain report on Wednesday the player ‘isn’t sure he wants to carry on’ with the Catalan club next season.
As they put it, he arrived in Spain ‘to be a star’, but, as things stand, he isn’t happy, dropping in and out of the starting XI under Ernesto Valverde, leaving Barcelona with an important decision to make.
This would allow them to lose as little money as possible on a deal that included €120m up front and €40m in bonuses.
El Confidencial state that Coutinho’s agents have already held a meeting with those in charge at Barcelona to let them know what is bugging their client and ‘understand the club’s plans’.
The outlet believe the Brazilian would be on the market if an offer of around €100m landed on the La Liga club’s desk, as a transfer would also alleviate their wage bill by €14m/year.
This is where Chelsea come in, as El Confidencial outright state the Blues ‘want him’, currently negotiating Eden Hazard’s exit to Real Madrid from which they hope to get at least €100m.
That money could then be reinvested in the Brazilian, but before any of this happens, the Premier League club have to find out whether or not they will be able to conduct transfer business in the summer, as they await the decision of FIFA’s Appeal Committee regarding their transfer ban.
