Barca accept defeat in their attempts to sign Liverpool’s Coutinho

Joe Williams
Barcelona have identified alternative targets to Philippe Coutinho after accepting that signing the Liverpool forward is “impossible,” according to reports.

Barca had targeted Coutinho as a potential replacement for Neymar, his countryman who joined Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer.

Liverpool have rejected three bids for the playmaker, with a fourth approach in the offing.

Coutinho even handed in a transfer request in an attempt to force through the move, but the Reds are adamant that they will not sell.

According to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona have accepted the inevitable.

They report that “the future of Philippe Coutinho is increasingly red”, even if Barca”will go all the way” to sign him.

That will not be enough of course, with Catalan radio station RAC1 conceding that the La Liga club now deem finding a breakthrough with Liverpool “impossible”.