Arsenal eye move to sign £34m South American star as Arteta looks to add creativity

Arsenal remain keen on signing Phillipe Coutinho this summer but want reassurances over his knee injury before pushing ahead with any move for the Barcelona attacker, according to reports via Football London.

Mikel Arteta is expected to be extremely busy in the transfer market this summer as he knows an overhaul is needed after Arsenal missed out on European qualification with an eighth-placed finish last season.

The Spanish coach is tipped to strengthen in defence and midfield but Arteta is also desperate to add some creativity to his squad and a replacement for Martin Odegaard is needed after he returned to Real Madrid following a loan spell.

Emi Buendia was linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium before joining Aston Villa while James Maddison has also been mentioned in the press but Coutinho is once again being touted as a potential target for Arsenal.

The Brazilian international has long been linked with the Gunners and Football London are citing a report that originates from the print version of Sport that claims Arsenal are still showing a keen interest in bringing Coutinho to north London.

However, the Spanish outlet suggests that Arsenal will only consider stepping-up their pursuit once they have reassurances over the 29-year-old’s on-going knee injury – which he sustained towards the end of last season.

Coutinho’s time at the Nou Camp has been nothing short of a nightmare following his big-money move from Liverpool in 2018 and he spent a season out on loan at Bayern Munich but failed to secure a permanent deal.

Barcelona are desperately trying to offload the South American as they look to balance the books and the Liverpool Echo carried a report from the print version of Sport back in March that suggested the Catalans have slashed his asking price to just £34m [€40m].

Coutinho has scored just 23 goals and provided 14 assists in his 90 appearances for Barca since arriving three and a half years ago and there’s no doubt he looks a shadow of the player we saw during his time at Liverpool.

However, Coutinho still has huge talent and could be an excellent signing for Arsenal if they could get him back playing to the best of his ability. The big question mark remains over his knee injury so it will be interesting to see how things develop if Barca are able to prove his injury problems are behind him.