Philippe Coutinho is not happy about the fact that Liverpool have blocked a move to his dream club Barcelona. And now the Brazilian is expected to take up radical measures in order to stop playing for Liverpool.
Barcelona see Coutinho as a long term replacement for Andres Iniesta and the Catalans were ready to shell out large amounts of money in order to get his services. But Liverpool would just not sell their star. So much so that the Merseyside outfit even rejected a £150 million offer. Though the La Liga outfit have not yet given up and they are expected to return in January and this time they look to offer even more.
But Coutinho is supremely unhappy with Liverpool for stopping him and the Brazilian has now decided that he will not play the Champions League games for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp has named the Brazilian in his initial Champions League squad but a few reports are claiming that Coutinho will boycott the group stages of the competition.
And it has more to do with his ambitions of playing for Barcelona this season than anything else. Coutinho knows very well that Barcelona’s interest in him is still alive and a move to the Camp Nou might be possible in January. But if he plays for Liverpool in the group stages of the UCL then he will not be eligible to play for Barcelona in the last 16 – if a move does go through.
Hence the 25-year-old is keeping every possible option open so that his transition to Spain does not hit any other roadblock.
The Brazilian was so upset with the move crumbling down that there were reports of him crying after Thursday. And he even threatened to go on a strike. But now by the looks of it, this might just be a partial strike.
