Barcelona must be the only club on the planet who assume a player will join them before they’ve submitted a bit.
The Catalans want Coutinho as a matter of pure desperation, but have so far not officially offered the €110m plus €40m in add-ons which is being speculated.
According to Don Balon, Barca reckon our no.10 could make his debut on January 11 in the Copa del Rey against Celta Vigo, meaning one of the biggest transfers of all time would be wrapped up in less than a week.
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But despite the player seemingly downing tools in the belief he’s played his final game for Liverpool, until Barca stump up a monstrous amount of cash there’s nothing to discuss.
What’s more, we can’t see Liverpool allowing Coutinho to leave this January unless we can in turn bring in Thomas Lemar, the young Frenchman who’s mooted as his replacement.
Yahoo claim the 22-year-old wants to join Jurgen Klopp ahead of Antonio Conte at Chelsea and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, but no bid has yet to be submitted to Monaco, either.
Frustratingly, we can see the saga running throughout the month, which is the last thing Liverpool need.