If you still haven’t had your fill of the Philippe Coutinho, “will he or won’t he move to Barcelona?” narrative, then don’t worry, there’s going to be more of that this January transfer window. We’ve already known that for some time, but today brings a new wrinkle, as Real Madrid could also be after him, but not until the summer.
Yes, we could see an El Clasico battle in the transfer market for the Brazilian play-maker come 2018.
Mundo Deportivo claims that: “Real Madrid intends to interfere in the ‘Operation Coutinho.’ The white club has contacted Liverpool to learn about the contract situation of the Brazilian international and show his interest in strengthening himself with him. Of course, the plans of the eternal rival would hire the Liverpool player in June 2018, and not in this winter market, as proposed by Barça.”
It is expected that Coutinho’s already sky high asking price ($175m, 150m Euro) could vault up even further come summer time and that Barca better make their move in January to avoid an escalated bidding war. Coutinho has had an up and down season thus far in the Premier League, but he might be a good fit in Barcelona, given what the Catalan club’s positions of need are.
At least he’d be a better fit there than at Real Madrid, where they already have plenty of depth in the areas where Coutinho would play. Of course, Real might be more likely to splash the cash on a top notch player soon, as they are struggling with La Liga right now and if their issues continue, will look to try and rectify their situation. In addition to the recent struggles domestically, Los Blancos have also suffered a humbling in Champions League, and could use an eye-catching addition to the roster, as it would boost morale.
Then again all of this is moot, unless Liverpool are willing to sell, and given how this past summer went, there’s no reason to believe that will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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