The Premier League’s calling for Barcelona’s La Liga flop Philippe Coutinho – but he may be too costly for Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti or Leicester City.
Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City are all interested in Philippe Coutinho though his £240,000-a-week Barcelona wages could make a deal all-but impossible, according to BleacherReport.
For Liverpool fans everywhere, the word ‘karma’ may come to mind.
Though the Brazilian is still greatly admired at Anfield, the way he forced through that £142 million move to Barcelona in 2018 left a nasty taste in many Merseyside mouths. And while Liverpool are on the verge of lifting the Premier League title for the first time ever in Coutinho’s absence, the man himself finds himself at a career crossroads during what should be his prime.
The 27-year-old failed spectacularly to live up to that staggering price-tag at the Camp Nou and it feels very unlikely that Bayern Munich will take up their option-to-buy clause for a man who has sparkled sporadically amid a loan spell in Germany.
Everton, Leicester or Tottenham would understandably feel like something of a backwards step but that may be exactly what Coutinho, who thrived in a fallible Liverpool side, needs.
Though it seems that the mega-money contract he inked at Barcelona was akin to signing a pact with the devil – tempting at the time but one that comes back to haunt him eventually.
He will need to accept a sizeable reduction on those £240,000-a-week wages if he, as BleacherReport suggests, wants a second chance in England.
We are in the midst of an era of unprecedented financial uncertainty but, even if everything was well right now, Everton and Leicester would never sign a player on a quarter of a million deal. Tottenham, meanwhile, still owe £637 million as they look to pay back their space-age new stadium.
So, like his Bayern predecessor James Rodriguez, Coutinho finds himself stuck between an expensive rock and a diamond-encrusted hard place.
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