[Tweets] Balague Explains Barca’s Decision To Make Pointless £129m Coutinho Bid

Managers are now pressing ahead with their plans for the final weeks of the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, the latest on Philippe Coutinho….

Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has explained Barcelona’s decision to launch a final £128.8m [€140m] bid for Philippe Coutinho even though they know Liverpool will reject it.

Coutinho has been strongly linked with a move to the Nou Camp this month after Barca identified the Brazilian international as a key target following Neymar’s world record switch to Paris Saint-Germain.

The playmaker shocked Liverpool after handing in a transfer request and the Catalans have used every dirty trick in the book to try and get a deal agreed but the Merseysiders have stood firm and refused to sell.

The Daily Star reported earlier this week that Liverpool had ignored Barcelona’s Sunday night deadline to agree a deal after rejecting their third offer worth £113m on Friday afternoon.

This was meant to be the end of the story and there was talk of Coutinho being reintegrated back in to the Liverpool squad once he’s recovered from an apparent back injury and illness.

However, widespread reports broke late on Tuesday night suggesting Barcelona are ready to launch one final attempt to try and persuade Liverpool to do a deal before the transfer window closes.

We’ve seen figures of around £138m being suggested in some media outlets but Spanish football expert Balague believes that Barcelona’s final offer will be closer to £129m.

The Sky Sports News pundit took to Twitter today to offer an update on the situation and he claims that Coutinho has asked Barca to make one final attempt to get a deal done.

Balague suggests that the Spanish giants are fully aware that Liverpool will reject their final £128.8m offer but they are submitting it to appease Coutinho and are now focussing their attention on signing Ousame Dembele and Angel Di Maria instead.

1. FCB are very aware LFC are not selling but have been asked by Coutinho to give it a last go. FCB don't want Coutinho upset for future pic.twitter.com/vHrxrIOxro

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 23, 2017

2. Coutinho expects FCB 2 offer €140 but they cant afford him, Dembele,di Maria and Seri.So they putting efforts mostly on Dembele/di Maria

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 23, 2017

3. The relevant people at FCB believe a new offer 4 Courinho won't be accepted by Liverpool

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 23, 2017

So it looks like Barca’s final offer is a pointless one and Liverpool are expected to immediately reject it, as they have done with their previous three offers.

READ MORE –> Liverpool transfer news

Unless things change drastically over the next 9 days, Coutinho will be a Liverpool player on September 1st and the key now is how Jurgen Klopp goes about bringing him back in to the first team fold following this messy affair.