Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho is on the Wednesday front cover of Sport. It’s the usual story, with the Catalan newspaper explaining Barcelona are keen on Coutinho, and the Liverpool player is keen on them.
Coutinho would fit in well at Barcelona, suit the system, and find good friends already in Neymar and Luis Suarez. Additionally, Sport claim Coutinho grew to love Barcelona as a city during his time with Espanyol, and it’s a city which suits him better than Liverpool.
Just like Barcelona, Liverpool has a coast, but the Spanish sunshine makes the Catalan 
seaside useable, and Sport say Coutinho was often at the beach during his time with Espanyol.
Sport say Coutinho would be hovering around the level of players such as Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, and Sergio Busquets, just below the club’s trident of superstars. Barcelona wouldn’t want to upset the balance, and whilst it’s not an ‘insurmountable’ issue, Sport accept it’s a problem.
Another problem is transfer fee. Barcelona’s probing of the situation ‘has not been encouraging’ and it’s stated Liverpool see Coutinho at the same level as Luis Suarez, meaning they’d want around €80.
That’s considered ‘an unrealistic figure’, and Barcelona’s idea would be to use players as part of a deal. Liverpool would be able to pick some fringe players, and that would bring the price down.
Such deals are very often rumoured, but very rarely actually happen. Too many different players, managers, and agents have to agree, and it can all get rather messy.
For example, Barcelona may like to offer something like Arda Turan + Jérémy Mathieu + €40m, but Liverpool would almost certainly knock it back.
Talks have already started between Coutinho’s camp and the blaugrana, agents have held meetings, but Barcelona need to make sure they can satisfy Liverpool financially.
Because, if not, it’s all a waste of time.
