Barcelona offer massive Coutinho incentive amid Chelsea, Spurs links

Philippe Coutinho TEAMtalk

Barcelona are reportedly ready to pay for a portion of Philippe Coutinho’s wages for him to move back to England or stay at Bayern Munich.

Coutinho, who became the Premier League’s record transfer export when he moved from Liverpool to Barca for £142m in January 2018, will be allowed to leave the Nou Camp when the season finishes – having spent the campaign in the Bundesliga on loan with Bayern.

The report in the Daily Telegraph states that Barca accept the Brazilian’s wages, worth more than £200,000-a-week, ‘will be difficult for a club to pay as they assess the financial impact of coronavirus on the football’, so they are ‘considering a compromise to cover his salary’.

Coutinho, 28, will be allowed out again on loan following his year in Germany, although the Catalan giants would also be willing to accept a swap deal or transfer, for the right price.

Both Chelsea and Tottenham have been strongly tipped to move for the former Reds star, particularly since his price tag is believed to have dropped below £50m, while Newastle have also been credited with an interest – if their Saudi takeover goes through.

Barca boss Quique Setien is still said to be a fan of the Brazilian attacker and would be happy to welcome him back into the squad, but the club’s hierarchy would prefer to offload him – especially following the financial impliactions from the coronavirus pandemic.

Indeed, the LaLiga giants have reportedly cut Coutinho’s asking price to a bargain £44.5m to get him off their books – with Chelsea and Spurs already enquiring about bringing in the playmaker this summer.

 

 

Meanwhile, Leicester will try to sign Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand if they lose Ben Chilwell to Chelsea in a big-money deal, according to reports.

Reports claim Chelsea boss Frank Lampard wants England international Chilwell as part of exciting plans to revamp his team.

The Blues have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Timo Werner and owner Roman Abramovich is willing to spend more.

However, it has also been claimed that Leicester are unwilling to budge on their £85million valuation of Chilwell. Read more…