Liverpool have once again been named as suitors for Philippe Coutinho should he leave Barcelona as expected this summer.
The Brazilian midfielder left Anfield for Barcelona in a £130.5m deal back in January 2018 but struggled to establish himself at the Spanish giants.
He’s spending this season on loan at Bayern Munich, who have the option to turn the deal into a permanent one for €120m at the end of the season.
There are doubts whether that will happen, though, according to Sport, with Coutinho having failed to reignite his career in Bavaria so far.
And should the Bundesliga side decide not to exercise their option, Barça are ‘preparing for the possible scenarios’ should he return to the Nou Camp, with it almost ruled out that he’ll stay at the club.
Barcelona are also evaluating the option of using Coutinho as part of a big-money move for another player, such as Neymar, with PSG director Leonardo, a known admirer of the midfielder.
That is likely a better option for Barça to explore, with it doubtful Liverpool would be genuinely interested in bringing Coutinho back in future.
While they could do with a creative midfielder of his ilk and he played his best football under Jürgen Klopp, there seems to be little desire to try and get him back for a second spell, particularly given what they’d have to pay to make it happen.
Comments that have come out of the club have hardly been positive about the idea either. Captain Jordan Henderson has openly stated that Coutinho’s time at Liverpool was over when asked abouut it, while CEO Peter Moore was hardly effusive about the Brazilian either.
Then there’s Coutinho’s stance to consider too. It’s likely he would turn down the chance, especially after the reports his family were never truly happy living on Merseyside.
Those are all major reasons why the possibility of a return to Anfield seem remote at best. There’s reasons it’d make sense, sure, but there’s far more showing why it won’t happen than why it will.
This latest suggestion instead feels more like Sport trying to push Liverpool as potential bidders to ramp up interest rather than there being any genuine interest from Anfield.
