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Mikel Arteta gives ‘resounding yes’ to Arsenal plans to sign Barcelona misfit in January

Coutinho Dani Alves December 2021

Mikel Arteta has given a “resounding yes” to Arsenal’s plans to sign Philippe Coutinho in January, claims a report in Spain.

Talk of a move back to the Premier League has been hotting up for Coutinho over the festive period. The former Liverpool man’s time in Barcelona has not gone as planned. He was farmed out to Bayern Munich on loan in 2019-20, but the Bundesliga champions were not keen on a permanent deal.

Tottenham, Liverpool and Newcastle have all been linked with Coutinho.

While Sport, via Sport Witness claimed earlier this week Everton and the Gunners were “working” on signing the 29-year-old.

Now though Fichajes.net report that Arteta has rubber-stamped the arrival of Coutinho.

It seems the Spaniard has been asked about the potential arrival of the former Liverpool man. And he has given the green light to the signing.

Arteta has “given a resounding yes when approving the arrival”. Arsenal believe they can get Coutinho back to his best and his time at Barca will be “finished once and for all” with The Emirates calling.

No Barca future for Coutinho

The 29-year-old does not appear to be in the plans of new Barca boss Xavi.

 

“Coutinho is someone who can play in various positions and he can be important for the team.

“He needs to re-find himself and recover his confidence. If he does, he will help us a lot. He has an innate talent,” said Xavi in November.

He is yet to complete a full 90 minutes in La Liga since the club legend came back to Catalonia. The attacker’s longest outing came in the 1-0 defeat to Real Betis, managing 59 minutes before being subbed.

Barca do need to sell players this winter after announcing the signing of Man City forward Ferran Torres. Torres is on the way out of The Etihad after accepting Barca’s offer worth £54.7m on Wednesday. And Coutinho is believed to be one of the players earmarked for sale to help fund the arrival of Torres.

Coutinho will have 12 months to run on his contract next summer.

READ MORE: Serie A club ‘in talks’ for unhappy Arsenal star but Everton still circling