Liverpool can finally breathe a sigh of relief as Barcelona have ended their interest in their Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho.
The latest report from Liverpool Echo claims that the Catalans have finally accepted defeat in their pursuit after seeing three bids rejected by the Reds.
The Catalan club, despite their best efforts to unbalance the Brazilian at Merseyside, will now have to continue their search for Neymar’s replacement elsewhere. The Catalan club had been interested in Coutinho for quite some time, but they started pursuing him actively only after losing Neymar to PSG earlier this summer.
Initially, the Catalan club were confident of getting their man and even convinced him to submit a transfer request. However, the Reds responded with a public statement that Coutinho won’t be leaving the club this summer, and when they rejected Barca’s reported bid of £118m last week it became obvious that they won’t be budging this summer.
The Merseyside club haven’t enjoyed a successful transfer window themselves, and have failed in signing most of their transfer targets. Mohamed Salah has arrived, but pursuits of Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita have only yielded frustrations.
There is an air of discontent among the club’s fanbase, and that was possibly the biggest reason why the club found themselves in a non-negotiable position regarding their best player. £118m could have been a good value for Coutinho in any other transfer window, but not this one. Not when Liverpool have failed to sign two of their top targets and their top signing remains Salah while their opponents have spent much more on better players.
Now that Barcelona have ended their interest, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp faces a daunting task of reintegrating the player back in to his squad. As things stand, he is still recovering from his back injury and isn’t expected to return before the conclusion of the international break. Coutinho surely angered some of Liverpool fans when he submitted the transfer request and declared that he wouldn’t play for the club again. However, a player of his quality should not take long to earn back the trust of Anfield-faithful.
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