Barcelona‘s star Messi has told the club his in between Coutinho and Dembele
The Catalans have always been active during the transfer windows. This time is no exception. The club is already being linked to various players according to sources. Barcelona has a pull that most players have a hard time resisting. The prospect of European glory is an inviting offer. Currently, Barcelona is looking to sign Neymar and Lautaro Martinez.
Neymar made the move to PSG for a record fee of £200 million in 2017. But the Brazilian wants a move back to Camp Nou. As per Sky Sports Barcelona has offered a swap Including Antoine Griezmann and add on the money. But PSG has reportedly rejected the deal. Barcelona is also very interested in signing Lautaro Martinez from Inter. But they still might end up paying more than £100 million for him.
Source- Sky Sports
It is clear that Barcelona will need to offload players if they’re serious about their transfer targets. They need a £60-70 million cushion to overcome their transfer deficit. If you were to believe rumors Dembele, Griezmann, and Coutinho are all on the selling list.
Dembele has had an injury-prone spell at Barcelona making only 38 appearances in 3 seasons. Griezmann came over from Atletico last season and has struggled to really make an impact. While Coutinho was always a bit unsettled. Bayern has been quite on extending his stay and will probably not move for retaining him.
Dembele is valued at £56 million, Griezmann at £96 million, and Coutinho at £56 million. While selling Griezmann is a bit surprising, Dembele and Coutinho are definitely on the transfer list.
Messi and the teams take on the transfer speculations.
Source- The Athletic
The Barcelona camp is aware that there’s gonna be movement within the squad. Lionel Messi has conveyed to the club that he would prefer a transfer for Dembele instead of Coutinho. He has the backing of the club’s veterans as they too share Messi’s opinion.
According to The Athletic, “Barcelona could reverse their decision to sell Coutinho at the end of the season”. The report also claims that Messi was angered by how the club treated the former Liverpool midfielder. Coutinho, on the other hand, is a target of various clubs. Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal had made contact regarding Coutinho’s availability.
According to the Metro, Coutinho was very close to complete a move to Chelsea. Lampard also holds the player capabilities in high regard. Barcelona has given Chelsea an amount of 79 million for Coutinho. But considering their emergency for raising funds, Chelsea is confident they can sign him for a lesser amount.
But Chelsea legends Jamie Redknapp and Stan Collymore do not seem to share Lampard’s opinion. Collymore wrote in his column in the Daily Mirror, “If Frank Lampard signs Philippe Coutinho it could well be his first mistake as Chelsea manager”.
Jamie Redknapp also believes that signing Coutinho would be risky for Chelsea. Both Mount and Coutinho play a similar kind of role and signing Coutinho could prove to be a hindrance to Mount’s development. Plus there is the fact that Coutinho hasn’t really returned to his peak form at Liverpool.
