With the European transfer window yet to close there are still several significant transfers waiting to get going, and Philippe Coutinho is one of them.
The Brazilian is not wanted at Barcelona, and they’re keen to move him on, primarily to get his wages off the books.
Tottenham was a potential destination before they pulled out and got Giovani Lo Celso on deadline day instead while a move to PSG as part of any deal for Neymar is complicated at best.
Sport report the player was ‘close to Tottenham’.
Now, it seems he’s on the way to Bayern Munich with Sport reporting a deal is close. The Bundesliga champions will pay €20m to loan Coutinho for a season, while there is a purchase option included in the agreement.
He will now travel to Germany for a medical, and he already has an agreement with Bayern having spoken to their representatives earlier in the window. Coutinho is happy to make a move as he wants more game time after struggling since moving to the Nou Camp.
Sport confirms he was close to joining Tottenham, but the two clubs couldn’t work out a deal, so he’s heading to Bayern instead.
While they and Coutinho are pleased to get a deal over the line, the newspaper says it will come as bad news for Liverpool.
The big money deal they struck with the Catalan club for Coutinho included several variables, but it’s claimed Barcelona will now avoid paying them because Coutinho is heading out on loan.
It seems a little strange that Liverpool wouldn’t have protected themselves against such an eventuality, although perhaps, like the rest of us, they didn’t expect him to fail so spectacularly at the Camp Nou and that he’d be leaving on loan within 18 months.
