‘Coutinho’s head turned by La Liga giants’ – Spanish media

Philippe Coutinho: Interest from Man City

Philippe Coutinho: Interest from Barcelona

Barcelona will go all out to try and sign Philippe Coutinho this summer, according to Sport.

The Spanish publication claim the Liverpool man is “enthusiastic” about the prospect despite recently signing a new contract at Anfield.

The 24-year-old penned a new five-year deal in January lifting his salary to £150,000 a week, but the Brazilian may well have had his head turned, especially after Neymar’s comments this week.

His fellow Brazilian said Coutinho would “totally fit in” at the Camp Nou and said: “A Premier League player that I would like to have in Barcelona is Coutinho,”

The player’s Giuliano Bertolucci is believed to have been in talks with Barcelona and assured the Catalan giants that the diminutive midfielder would not favour PSG over a move to La Liga.

The report does claim that Coutinho will leave Liverpool at the end of the season and “operation Coutinho” will see the player sign for Barca, whose boss Luis Enrique is leaving in the summer.

Coutinho has scored just once in his last 15 games in all competitions and his form since the turn of the year has been a million miles away from the performances he was putting in last year.

He has collected seven goals and seven assists – the majority of which came before his six-week lay-off in December and January.

The Sport report is in stark contrast to Mundo Deportivo’s latest suggestion that Barca have targeted Paulo Dybala as their top summer target, not Coutinho, as they look to replace Neymar.