There’s not great news for Liverpool supporters from Mundo Deportivo on Saturday, but it’s not as bad as some of the hype suggests. Philippe Coutinho moving to Barcelona is described as being ‘a matter of days’ away from becoming a finalised deal rather than an irritating rumour.
As Neymar was being presented in Paris, Barcelona ‘accelerated the signings of Coutinho and Dembele’, report Mundo Deportivo.
It’s stated that Coutinho has given his ‘OK’ to the transfer, but that’s hardly anything new and has been reported for months in the Spanish media.
On Its own, the ‘OK’ is really nothing to worry about. The Catalan newspaper suggest that Coutinho not traveling to Dublin with Liverpool could be transfer related, but don’t go outright and claim it.
Mundo Deportivo add: ‘In London, Coutinho’s agent, Giuliano Bertolucci, awaits the final response to the second Barca proposal to Liverpool, which amounts to up to €100m, more variables, a figure that can hardly be rejected by Red network.’
Oh it can. Liverpool could quite easily rejected over €100m, let alone up to €100m, it’s a question of how strong they’re willing to be.
Once again, Manuel Lanzini is stated as Jurgen Klopp’s choice to replace Coutinho, which is taken as another signal the Brazilian could be closer to Barcelona.
Despite all the fanfare, Coutinho to Barcelona seems to be built on sand, according to our interpretation of Mundo Deportivo’s claims.
Ousmane Dembele would be the more obvious Neymar replacement, which is backed up by the weight of Spanish reports, and Sport believe he’s closer. Dembele is ‘more certain’ according to Sport, with the Catalan newspaper saying he’s been ‘chosen by the blaugrana to occupy the space that has been freed by the escape of Neymar to PSG’.
