Philippe Coutinho’s decision to leave Liverpool for Barcelona in January 2018 has not been a total success.
The 29-year-old has played under four managers at the Camp Nou and failed to convince all of them, including the present coach, Xavi Hernández.
Monday’s edition of Mundo Deportivo explains the attacking midfielder is not included in Xavi’s plans at the club.
The La Liga side have ‘open operations’ for exits of the Brazil international, Samuel Umtiti, Neto and Luuk de Jong.
They are all discarded by the manager and the first three have ‘very high’ salaries. Barca sporting director Mateu Alemany has ‘drawn up an immediate action plan’ to try and get rid of these players.
Barcelona’s senior executives acknowledge they have been ‘working on several [exit] operations for days’. There is the option of ‘proposing the freedom letter’ to the aforementioned four players, meaning to terminate their contracts, but the Spanish giants ‘do not see it as a means of success’.
agent of the former Reds star ‘manages the interest of Liverpool’. There are other clubs from England in the picture as he continues to have a market in the Premier League.
Mundo explain Coutinho’s camp are waiting for one of the English clubs to ‘take a definitive step’ to take the South American away from Barca in January.
Liverpool have been linked to Coutinho in the past and these reports were rejected by the media close to the Anfield club. If there’s no interest from the Merseyside club, it won’t be a surprise if Mundo’s claims get dismissed again in the coming days.
