Mundo Deportivo lay it on thick in their Wednesday edition for Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.
The Catalan sport media love the idea that every footballer on the planet wants to play for Barcelona, and Coutinho is just another one.
Efforts from Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé to force their current clubs into selling to Barcelona aren’t being taken as a necessary evil in Catalonia, but more a badge of pride.
Més que un club was fractured a long time ago, and that’s even without the involvement of the local newspapers.
Mundo Deportivo say Coutinho is so keen on a Barcelona move he’s told Jurgen Klopp straight. After handing in a transfer request at Liverpool, it’s claimed Coutinho told the manager he doesn’t plan to wear the Liverpool shirt ever again.
The Brazilian is ‘willing to sit in the stands all season’ rather than play for Liverpool again, even if it ruins his World Cup chances.
What absolute nonsense.
That would all require a level of backbone that Coutinho, hiding behind family members speaking to Sky Sports and emailed transfer requests, clearly lacks, maybe it has something to do with his current back injury.
The idea of Coutinho telling Klopp how it is, and then fronting up to an Afield stadium every other week is farcical, as is him burning his World Cup dream to prove a point.
Should the player’s Barcelona move fail, then he’ll continue at Liverpool like a good little footballer and assure everyone he’s fully committed.
That may not fit in with the Catalan media’s dream of Liverpool paying for messing Barcelona around, but it’s almost certainly closer to reality.
