Arsenal have shown interest in signing Philippe Coutinho from FC Barcelona during the summer and now it seems like their hopes have been given a significant boost.
The 27-year-old has been a major flop ever since moving to the La Liga from Liverpool a couple of seasons ago and right now he is out on loan to Bundesliga side Bayern Munich where has put in a decent account for himself.
So far during the 2019-20 season, Philippe Coutinho has scored eight and assisted six goals in 22 league games for the Bavarians which is why some rumours have claimed that Bayern could look to sign him permanently during the summer.
Now German journalist Christian Falk, who is the head of football at Sport Bild, has made it clear that the German club have no intentions of making the loan deal permanent.
He said in an interview: “No, Bayern won’t buy Coutinho.
“Anyone who wants to buy Coutinho won’t have to go to Bayern, but to Barcelona. After having struggled in both Germany and Spain, his value has decreased, so much so that the basis for negotiations should now be around €60 million.
The biggest problem, however, is that of his wages, which in Barcelona was worth €10 million a season.
“Not all clubs can afford such figures, especially with the crisis caused by the spread of the disease.”
Why Philippe Coutinho might not land up at Arsenal:
While Arsenal are very much in the race to sign Philippe Coutinho but there are two big reasons why the Brazilian will not be joining the Emirates outfit.
The first one being his obvious high salary demands which the Gunners just cannot fulfil right now.
As things stand, Arsenal cannot afford to give Aubameyang a pay rise in his new deal despite him being the club’s biggest asset so there is no way Arteta will sanction €10 million-a-season payments for someone like Coutinho.
The second and perhaps the most important reason why Philippe Coutinho is likely to snub Arsenal is due to the interest from Chelsea with multiple reports claiming that the Blues are currently the frontrunners in signing the playmaker at the end of the season.
