Barcelona ready to sell Philippe Coutinho for a loss amidst Tottenham Hotspur interest
According to the Catalan publication El Nacional (h/t Daily Mail Online), Barcelona are willing to sell Philippe Coutinho for a low transfer fee amidst interest from Tottenham Hotspur. The latter is in the market for some additions into the squad as they try to back Antonio Conte.
Xavi Hernandez has deemed Coutinho a surplus to requirements in the Barca squad and a move back to the Premier League could be on the cards. Arsenal and Everton have also shown an interest in signing him and would pose a challenge for Tottenham to overcome.
Conte is eager to bring in an attacking midfielder, and Fabio Paratici has made that demand one of his priorities. The 29-year-old fits the bill, and they would try to bring him to N17 and make him a part of the project they are building currently.
The Blaugrana club are open to taking a daunting loss on their £146million investment when they bought the Brazilian from Liverpool. They are keen to offload his salary package worth £370,000 a week off the wage bill by letting him leave for as much as £16million.
Opportunity for Spurs?
There are a lot of alarm bells that are going off by just looking at the midfielder’s wages alone. The transfer fee is a relatively small sum and, the risk factor involving a potential move would be minor for us. But if we are to sign him, then Paratici should negotiate a lower wage as the eye-watering amount that he is earning right now is simply undeserved based on his current performances.
The Gunners would be our main rival in this instance, so we have to be wary of not letting them get the lead if we decide to pursue the La Liga ace. The Toffees would also challenge us, so the club should put us in a position where we have the initiative.
The Brazil superstar could potentially recapture his lost mojo if he moves back to the Premier League. Remember, it is in England where he excelled and reached his peak when he played for Liverpool all those years ago.
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The Italian is known to get the best out of his players and, should he do the same with the Barca star, we could potentially see us getting boosted by his quality in midfield. The boss has used a three-man midfield at times, and we could see that happening more often should we sign the Brazil international.
Time will tell us where he would end up and whether we would get him as the January transfer window is currently open.
