Barcelona deny claims of Tottenham Hotspur clause in Philippe Coutinho deal with Aston Villa
According to Spanish news outlet Sport via Sport Witness (h/t BirminghamLive), Barcelona have shut down claims stating that Tottenham Hotspur have a clause to sign Philippe Coutinho despite the deal in place with Aston Villa. He has certainly done well since his loan move in January and looks to be on the way to finding his lost mojo.
Barca facilitated a loan move for Coutinho to join Villa in the January transfer window. The Lions also have the option to sign him permanently for a fee of around £33million. Tottenham were keeping tabs on him, which has been confirmed by the Spanish club’s sources.
Curiously, there were claims during the winter transfer window that Spurs have an option to purchase the Brazilian as well. But that seems to not be the case since insiders from Camp Nou have firmly refuted those rumours. That would no doubt be a blow to the North London side looking at how the midfielder has fared since his return to the Premier League.
A bit of a downer
The 29-year-old has taken the English top-flight by storm, having scored four goals and three assists from eight matches for Steven Gerrard’s side. The attacking midfielder is among the list of the best players since his move back in January.
This situation really causes us to reflect on our mistake, considering we were in the race to secure his services after all. What’s more baffling is how we look desperate for midfield additions in the team following the exits of Dele Alli, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso- with the latter two leaving on loan.
Even with the arrival of Rodrigo Bentancur, our midfield options seem very thin at this moment. That is especially the case considering the injury struggles Oliver Skipp has been suffering from for about two months now. Only Harry Winks and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are our other senior options, showcasing how light we are in the centre of the pitch.
One could wonder why Spurs did not go down that route if there were plans to move out three of our midfielders. Questions can be raised against our transfer policy once again, which also saw us lose out on Adama Traore and Luis Diaz.
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Now we are left to rue the missed opportunity wondering Coutinho would have fared for us. That being said, we have to wait and see if the Birmingham-based club would activate the buy option or not in the coming months. If they don’t go down that route, fans wouldn’t mind Spurs tracking the Brazilian once again.
