Arsenal are planning to make a move for Barcelona misfit Philippe Coutinho who also happens to be a major transfer target for Premier League rivals Chelsea.
A report in the Spanish outlet Le10Sport claims: “Returning to FC Barcelona after a loan to Bayern Munich, Philippe Coutinho strongly interested the Premier League. And Arsenal dreams of the Brazilian prodigy.
“Courted by Chelsea, who would study the possibilities to recover it this summer, Philippe Coutinho would also be on the shelves of Arsenal. The Gunners have even made their arrangements to start the first discussions with his agent, Kia Joorabchian.
“A complex case for Arsenal, because it is very expensive. But Mikel Arteta dreams of being able to get his hands on Philippe Coutinho and make him his master at playing.”
Will Philippe Coutinho choose Arsenal over Chelsea?
The entry of Arsenal in this race is really bad news for Chelsea since if the Gunners try hard then they might be able to secure this deal before their London rivals.
Firstly, the player’s agent is a big fan of Arsenal which could help the North London land the former Liverpool man during the summer transfer window.
Also, with Dani Ceballos set to head back to Spain and Mesut Ozil likely to be sold, Philippe Coutinho will get undisputed game time at the Emirates next season. But at Chelsea, he will have to fight with players like Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for a place in the starting XI.
But the only thing in favour of the Blues is the fact that Barcelona’s asking price for Philippe Coutinho is really steep and right now Arsenal are not really keen to splash out such a massive amount in the transfer market.
So, if Lampard can scrap the idea of a loan deal and sign the Brazilian permanently in the summer then the 27-year-old could be playing for the Stamford Bridge outfit next season.
Bayern Munich have revealed they have not chosen to trigger the buying clause in Coutinho’s loan deal meaning the playmaker will return to Spain once the 2019-20 season ends.
“The option expired and we haven’t activated it,” Rummenigge told Der Spiegel magazine on Friday, as reported by Football London.
“Now we’re going to draw up squad planning internally (for next season) and we’ll see if he still has a role to play with us or not.”
