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Barcelona are readying a new bid to sign Liverpool play-maker Philippe Coutinho in the January window, with an offer of £133 million set to be made to the Anfield club.
Last summer, the Catalans submitted three bids, with the highest in excess of £114 million, to lure the Brazilian to the Nou Camp, but were all were rejected by Liverpool, much to the disappointment of the player himself.
However, Barcelona are set to test the resolve of the Merseysiders to keep hold of the player with a new offer of nearly £100, plus £36 million in add-ons.
Coutinho has recently topped a poll of Barcelona fans which asked which player they wanted the club to sign in January, with 70% voting for the 25-year old.
Controversy was stoked over New Year after Nike posted a message on their website stating that Coutinho was ready to “light up the Camp Nou”, but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp laughed it off saying it was of no interest for him.
However, cynics have suggested that the reason Liverpool were prepared to sign Virgil van Dijk for £75 million is because they knew that money from the sale of Coutinho was coming in during January, so this story still has potential for more twists.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.