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Coutinho gone. 142m
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Barcelona losing hope of signing Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool, says Guillem Balague
Last Updated: 23/12/17 4:00pm
Philippe Coutinho celebrates his goal for Liverpool against Arsenal
Barcelona are "not optimistic" about signing Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in the January transfer window, according to Guillem Balague.
The Brazilian was the subject of multiple offers from Barcelona in the summer and speculation surrounding his future has intensified again ahead of the January transfer window, but Balague insists Liverpool's stance has not changed.
"Liverpool don't want to sell Coutinho," Balague told Sky Sports after Barcelona's 3-0 win over Real Madrid in Saturday's Clasico. "That's where they stand right now, so Barcelona are not optimistic about the possibility of Coutinho going there.
"Obviously they will try and they want to make an offer in January, but even Coutinho's entourage are thinking it probably won't happen, because Liverpool are saying the same as what they said in the summer: 'We are not interested in selling'."
Balague says Barcelona remain eager to bring in Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann in the summer, and if that happens, it could spell the end of their pursuit of Coutinho.
"Barcelona want Greizmann, no doubt about it," said Balague. "They are willing to pay the 100m euros that he will cost from the 1st of June.
"They have met his family, even his sister, who looks after his financial affairs, which is why Atletico Madrid have gone to FIFA and said that this is not supposed to happen.
"Barcelona have got Griezmann as number one target, at the same level of Coutinho, but I don't think they can get both players."
Last Updated: 23/12/17 4:00pm
Philippe Coutinho celebrates his goal for Liverpool against Arsenal
Barcelona are "not optimistic" about signing Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in the January transfer window, according to Guillem Balague.
The Brazilian was the subject of multiple offers from Barcelona in the summer and speculation surrounding his future has intensified again ahead of the January transfer window, but Balague insists Liverpool's stance has not changed.
"Liverpool don't want to sell Coutinho," Balague told Sky Sports after Barcelona's 3-0 win over Real Madrid in Saturday's Clasico. "That's where they stand right now, so Barcelona are not optimistic about the possibility of Coutinho going there.
"Obviously they will try and they want to make an offer in January, but even Coutinho's entourage are thinking it probably won't happen, because Liverpool are saying the same as what they said in the summer: 'We are not interested in selling'."
Balague says Barcelona remain eager to bring in Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann in the summer, and if that happens, it could spell the end of their pursuit of Coutinho.
"Barcelona want Greizmann, no doubt about it," said Balague. "They are willing to pay the 100m euros that he will cost from the 1st of June.
"They have met his family, even his sister, who looks after his financial affairs, which is why Atletico Madrid have gone to FIFA and said that this is not supposed to happen.
"Barcelona have got Griezmann as number one target, at the same level of Coutinho, but I don't think they can get both players."
I didn't watch this interview before – this was rather informative, since he is speaking more freely in Portuguese than in English. Basically I do take him at his word – he was interested, we refused the move, but there are no hard feelings on either side and no arrangement or "understanding" that he will be allowed to leave next summer or anything like that.
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he looks so miserable with that smile celebrating yesterday.
I thought the reason he pushed for a move in the summer was because Barca told that was his chance and now they needed to look elsewhere.... fuck them...
Look at Real's squad ... even Asensio and Isco are not getting enough starts, they certainly don't need him.
Fuck them both then.Until we get stubborn and resist selling our best plsyers we will be in constant state of transition and continue to struggle to win pots.I don't see so much dismantling of their team going on at the resr of the top six except for Spurs.Its about the money so we should just offer our most important players equivalent pay or more to stay.And in Coutinhos case the Captaincy and a massive bonus for Prem or Cl title.At least that should be on the table to give him a proper sense we want him as much as they do.
I thought so, too. I think Barça's probable return has as much to do with not losing face-- how dare any club resist the might of Barcelona-- as much as football reasons.
I Can see Isco ending up at city. There will be big changes in Madrid if they continue to fall behind Barca
Win the CL if he wants to leave then sell him.
Would be insanity to sell in Jan for any reason.
Would be insanity to sell in Jan for any reason.
Thought the changes was that they push through more of their own products. Don't believe they will be patienced enough but it would suit them if they sacrifised a season or two and tried to implement more young homegrown talent. They got some real exciting guys.
This Real Madrid we are talking about, a club with very little patience even when they are winning. They will probably sign neymar in the summer
Agree with this. Especially the captaincy. He's increasingly showing leadership skills and the ability to pull this team forward. Rather than accepting that he's off, let's try to make him the centrepiece.
We need to start winning shit if we want to keep our best players.
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True but we also need to keep our best players if we want to win things. I don't buy this "let them free" concept.
If we fail to deliver, eventually we will lose players but this collection of talent is only now emerging. We need to commit to keeping it together long enough to have a chance at winning things.
Listen I'm all for keeping our best players but what does for instance Coutinho, Suarez etc have to show for their 4 years at LFC. Individual trophies sure. Other than that, finals losses, failure and disappointment.
I guess there comes a time when the player thinks, "this club isn't progressing at the rate it should, there's only two maybe three players in the club who's at my level. If I commit, I may not win anything again."
That's fair enough but I think we are closer now than when Suarez left, despite the earlier title challenge. I think we need to hold Coutinho at minimum until the summer and ideally one more season. If we can't win anything by then, then by all means sell, as the team will need regeneration. But we can't always pull the trigger at first interest from the big spenders. We will never win with that approach.
But technically we did stand our ground and bought another year with Coutinho but two is asking too much I think. Mentally he's at Barca imo.
You obviously haven't been watching him play, he's been excellent.
He's been terrific for us lately and I feel giving him the armband has been an inspired move. We've all talked about how none of our squad really deserve that honour but Phil's been doing his best to prove otherwise.
If I thought he truly was mentally at Barca I'd agree with selling. I'm not sure that's the case and let's see if we can convince him.
He's been great from what I've seen but hasn't it always been the case.
When he comes out and says Barca can shove it, I'll believe it.
Do we really want to give the captaincy to someone that apparently cried 6 months ago because he couldn't leave and struggles to crack a smile when he scores?
If it worked great but we'd look a bit silly doing it only to have him force his way out the door in the summer.
If it worked great but we'd look a bit silly doing it only to have him force his way out the door in the summer.
I care a lot more about performances on the pitch than words, to be honest. Performance-wise Coutinho’s head and heart is still very much at LFC and you would notice it too if you actually watched him play.
I wouldn't give it to him permanently unless he were staying beyond next summer but have no issue with him wearing it when Henderson is out. If he stays I'd consider the switch as Henderson is weaned out of the first team.
Yea that's a fair idea, he has been here a long time too. Coutinho and Ming are probably the longest serving after Henderson?
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