Barcelona attacker Philippe Coutinho is still weighing-up an offer from Arsenal and could yet seal a loan move to the Emirates Stadium this summer, according to Sport.
Coutinho has struggled to replicate the kind of form he showed at Liverpool that earned him a big-money move to Barcelona in 2018 and he was shipped out on loan to Bayern Munich last summer after enduring a tough debut campaign in Spain.
The South American’s time at the Allianz Arena was a relative success as he contributed 9 goals and 8 assists in just 22 starts in all competitions to help guide Bayern Munich to their eighth consecutive Bundesliga title.
However, it wasn’t enough to persuade Bayern to make the move permanent so Coutinho is now on the look-out for a new club as he has no future at Barcelona and it seems he could be heading back to the Premier League.
Sport claims that Coutinho is keen to return to England this summer and his agent, Kia Joorabchian, has been holding talks with a number of Premier League clubs in recent weeks to assess their interest.
The Spanish outlet says that while the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, United and City have all rejected the chance to sign Coutinho, Tottenham and Leicester have ‘left the door open’ to a potential deal while Arsenal have already put an offer on the table.
Coutinho initially rejected the proposal but Sport says the playmaker has now asked for more time to consider Arsenal’s offer. Presumably he wants to wait and see if we win the FA Cup and qualify for the Europa League.
Barcelona have made it clear they want to get the 27-year-old off the books this summer but the report says the Catalan giants want an £18m [€20m] loan fee to seal a deal that would also include an option to buy next summer.
Arsenal are going to be working from a tight budget this summer so it remains to be seen whether we’d be able to afford such a deal as well as meet the players hefty wages so Raul Sanllehi may have to work his magic during negotiations.
Mikel Arteta desperately needs to add some creativity to his squad and although Coutinho’s career has stalled since joining Barca, there is no doubting his quality and I think he could be an excellent signing if we could pull it off.
The Brazilian international can play out on either wing or through the middle as an attacking midfielder so he’d give Arteta a versatile option in the final third and obviously he knows English football well from his time with Liverpool.
If Arsenal can secure Europa League football then we could have a good chance of luring Coutinho to the Emirates, especially as his agent, Joorabchian, has close ties with the club having brokered deals for David Luiz and Cedric Soares recently.
