Barcelona offer Coutinho to Liverpool for £40m waiver
Barcelona have reportedly offered Philippe Coutinho to Liverpool in exchange for the Reds waiving the remaining £40million they are still owed for the playmaker.
Coutinho left Liverpool for Barcelona in January 2018 for a fee which would rise to £142million if all conditions were met.
But the Brazilian has struggled to find consistent form in La Liga and spent the 2019-20 season on loan at Bayern Munich.
And with Barcelona reporting huge levels of debt and still oweing outstanding transfer fees for several top players, including Coutinho, they are desperate to find ways of trimming the wage bill and stump up funds for additions this summer.
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Spanish outlet AS claim Barca are trying to avoid paying Liverpool the £40million they owe for Coutinho, by offering him back to them.
The report doesn’t state whether Liverpool have responded to the proposal, but rumours have previousl suggested that Jurgen Klopp has no interest in re-signing Coutinho.
The Reds boss was certainly reticent to let him leave in 2017-18, reportedly telling the attacking midfielder: “Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour.
“Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more.”
AS also claim Barcelona are willing to part with five further stars to lower the wage bill.
Club legend Sergio Busquets, veteran full-back Jodi Alba, utility man Sergi Roberto and French forwards Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann are all expected to be transfer listed.
One player Liverpool have signed is Ibrahima Konate, with Klopp “really excited” to have landed the centre-back for £36million.
Klopp said: “I’m really pleased we’ve been able to add a player of Ibrahima’s quality to our squad and he is someone I’ve admired for a long time, ever since I first became aware of his potential when he was at Sochaux.
“After the problems we had with injuries in the centre-half position last season, there’s no doubt it was clear it was an area of the team we needed to strengthen – but I first have to say that the job Nat, Rhys and Ozan did was incredible. Unbelievable really.
“In Ibrahima we are signing a player who will add to the quality we already have here. His physical attributes are very impressive; he is quick, he is very strong and he is dominant in the air.
“He comes to us after playing more than 90 times for Leipzig in the Bundesliga and European football. I’m sure that number would have been more but for some injury, but even so that means he already has experience of what it takes to compete in two outstandingly difficult competitions.
“He also played for a team in the Champions League in high-pressure matches, who have a similar football vision to ourselves.”