Philippe Coutinho has been strongly linked with a return to the English Premier League. And now that the domestic seasons has come to an end, we can finally see some progress in this department.
Bayern Munich are not taking him back on yet another loan deal and he clearly does not have any space in the Barcelona starting XI. So moving back to England seems to be the most logical choice for the Brazilian.
Barcelona know that selling him permanently will be a big ask so the Catalans are ready to offer him on a loan deal with an obligation to buy and as per Sport, three big PL clubs are keen to land his services this summer.
The report claims: “The player’s agent, Kia Koorabchian, has spent the last few weeks sounding out clubs to take the Brazilian on loan next season. FC Barcelona are aware that sides aren’t going to pay a high transfer fee and would, like Bayern Munich, prefer to just cover Coutinho’s wages for 12 months.
“Tottenham and Leicester City are two of the names still in the running for Coutinho’s services and both secured European football yesterday.
“The other option from the Premier League is Arsenal, although they don’t European football at the moment. Mikel Arteta’s side must beat Chelsea in the FA Cup Final to qualify for the Europa League and have already been turned down by Coutinho once.
“This is because they baulked at having to cover his full wages and asked Coutinho to take a pay cut to join them. Arsenal then asked for a few days to think about it so the door isn’t closed.
“Coutinho has three options on the table: Arsenal, Leicester and Tottenham.”
Where will Philippe Coutinho land up in the summer?
Arsenal are said to be one of the frontrunners in this deal but there’s a big chance that they might have fallen down the pecking order after they failed to get into the Champions League.
But having said that Leicester and Spurs do not have UCL football to offer either so if the Gunners can win the FA Cup and get into the Europa League, they will once again be on level ground to fight for Philippe Coutinho.
The playmaker will surely not want to ply his trade in the second division of Europe but clubs like Chelsea, Man United have all rejected the chance to sign him. So if he wants to return to England he will have to settle for the second tier of Europe next season.
