According to Sky Sports, Chelsea are one of the clubs that have been offered the chance to sign Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho this summer.
The Brazil international left Liverpool for the Camp Nou in January 2018 for £142 million, but he is currently on a season-long loan at Bayern Munich after struggling to make an impact in Spain.
The Bundesliga giants paid an initial £8 million loan fee and are covering his £11million-a-year wage, but aren’t keen to pay the £109 million Barcelona are demanding to make the move permanent.
A return to the Premier League is on the cards, but it is most likely to be another loan deal, and the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton will challenge Chelsea for Coutinho’s services.
Boss Frank Lampard will look to strengthen his squad in the next transfer window, and it will be interesting to see if he can manage to get a deal for the 27-year-old over the line.
The former Liverpool star has eight goals and seven assists in 22 Bundesliga games this term, and he has created 30 chances.
Coutinho left Anfield with an impressive record, scoring 41 goals, assisting 35 others and creating 301 chances in 152 Premier League appearances.
Landing him will definitely see the Stamford Bridge outfit have a realistic chance of strongly challenging for the top-flight title next season, and he will be more than keen to hit the ground running on his return to England.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker isn’t particularly impressed with how Sky Sports have made it look like Barca are only offering Coutinho to a few clubs, and here is how he reacted to their report on Twitter:
This nonsense always makes me laugh. If a club wants to sell a player, they’d hardly limit it to a few clubs of their choosing. “Hi there Mr Abramovich, we want to sell you Coutinho and we don’t want him to go anywhere but Chelsea.” “How considerate, we’ll take him.” 🙄 https://t.co/O3pVxv47lK
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 22, 2020
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