Liverpool place £130million price tag on Philippe Coutinho as star pushes for transfer
Liverpool will do business with Barcelona over Philippe Coutinho if the Spanish side meet their £130million asking price.
The Reds have stood firm in their resistance to Coutinho leaving the club and rejected three huge offers from Barcelona last summer.
The failed move frustrated Coutinho and Barcelona, but the Brazilian has gone on to enjoy an excellent first half of the season with 12 goals in 20 appearances.
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Barcelona is set to re-ignite their pursuit of Coutinho and the Reds are now ready to listen to offers. But, that bid must match or exceed £130m, according to the Telegraph.
It is not known whether Barcelona can meet that asking price and Liverpool are hopeful they will hold onto Coutinho until at least the summer.
Liverpool fans will be devastated with the latest update after being continually enraged by Barcelona’s conduct in their pursuit of Coutinho.
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The latest attempt to put pressure on Liverpool was by Barcelona’s sponsor, Nike, who inexplicably announced the capture of Coutinho on their website.
Nike offered promotional shirt deals alongside the announcement, before taking down the advert without an explanation.
Liverpool have made no official statement on Nike’s blunder or Barcelona’s interest in Coutinho, which seems a noticeable shift in tone on Merseyside.
Liverpool 2017/18 Fixtures
Everton (H) – Fri Jan 5 (FA Cup)
Man City – Sun Jan 14
Swansea (A) – Mon Jan 22
Huddersfield (A) – Tues Jan 30
Tottenham (H) – Sun Feb 4
Southampton (A) – Sun Feb 11
Porto (A) – Wed Feb 14 (Champions League)
West Ham (H) – Sat Feb 24
The Reds made their stance crystal clear in the summer when they released a statement insisting their talisman was not for sale at any price after Barcelona made their opening bid.
Jurgen Klopp’s tone too has softened as he rejected the chance to respond to Nike by insisting the gaffe was of ‘no interest’ to him.
Coutinho missed Liverpool’s last game against Burnley, with an injury arriving just at the opening of the January transfer window.
The playmaker refused to play for Liverpool during the summer transfer window after handing in a transfer request and making that move public.
Coutinho has reportedly told Liverpool he will not play for the club again and is awaiting the completion of his move to the Nou Camp, which Barcelona believe will go through in the coming week.
Liverpool have already made a big move in the current window after beating Chelsea and Manchester City to the signing of Virgil van Dijk.
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