London: Barcelona will “fight” to sign Philippe Coutinho up until the transfer window closes, and there is growing expectation that they will soon submit an improved over after Liverpool flatly rejected a bid of pounds 90 million. According to those close to the deal, Barcelona are still refusing to accept defeat over Coutinho who put in a written transfer request when the Spanish club’s latest offer was turned down last week.
“The fight goes on,” a source said. Although claims made to Catalan television by Pep Segura, Barcelona general manager, that a deal was “close” were dismissed as untrue by all parties, the Spaniards are not backing down. Coutinho clearly wants to leave and feels going to the Nou Camp is not only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him but also a good deal, and a good price, for Liverpool.
Fenway Sports Group, the club’s American owners, maintain the Brazilian is not for sale, while manager Jurgen Klopp said there is “nothing to say” because “no one told me anything different”. Klopp has also argued it is too late in the window for Liverpool to sell but Barcelona’s determination has grown, not least following their shocking 5-1 defeat on aggregate to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
The club are still reeling from Neymar’s world record pounds 198 million switch to Paris Saint-Germain and want Coutinho and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele, for a similar fee to the one offered for Coutinho, to appease supporters.
Yesterday they presented Paulinho, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, following his pounds 36.4 million switch from Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande, but bigger signings are needed. Barcelona have also suffered the blow of Luis Suarez being ruled out injured for four to five weeks with a knee injury, while Gerard Pique has stated he felt “inferior” to Real for the first time in nearly a decade.
Questioned whether Barcelona was a good move for Coutinho given their problems, Klopp dwelt on his own club’s positives.
“Can you imagine for a minute, I am not a little bit interested about the problems or not of Barcelona,” he said. “I don’t see a lot of reasons for each player to leave Liverpool at the moment. We have very young boys, experience — it’s a good mix and we are on our way. I am very positive about the project.”
Coutinho was moved into a more central midfield role last season by Klopp as the German sought to build a team around him. The 25-year-old has a back injury which will see him miss the fixture against Crystal Palace tomorrow. But Klopp feels they can change system and approach in his absence. “Every team in the world would miss a creative player in whichever position of his quality,” said the German.
“Having Phil not available was never cool but it happened. It is the situation and we always need to adapt.” If Barcelona do finally land Coutinho, any Liverpool attempt to sign West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini as a replacement will fail, Slaven Bilic has suggested. In fact, the manager thinks it is only a matter of time until Lanzini earns a new contract with the club.
“I speak to Manu every day, he is happy,” said Bilic.
“He feels at home, he feels liked. You can see it, you don’t have to talk to him and you can see by how he is smiling and is happy. He broke into the Argentina national team, so he knows if he plays for West Ham he has a chance of getting a better contract with West Ham and playing for Argentina.
“I am sure he is going to stay with us. He knows he is wanted. He knows the chairman and the board. He was on loan and we took an option even before we had to. We activated it with him. He was wanted and was voted the players’ player of the year. When the player comes and when he is on one sort of contract and he is not very well known, and he plays good, the chairman is very happy to give him a new contract. So it will sooner or later happen with Manuel if he continues to be the kind of player he has been for us. Look, on one hand, we can’t expect the players to stay forever. Nowadays nobody is staying.
“But I hope he stays here for this season. The point is now and long term-ish, he’s very happy.” Other than wanting to keep Lanzini, West Ham still hope to bring in William Carvalho, the Sporting Lisbon midfielder, but Bilic has left the matter in the hands of his board. He said: “We will see what happens with ins and outs. I have left it with the board and the chairman. I concentrate purely on the matches.”
