Liverpool reject second Barca bid for Coutinho: Reports
CLOSE CONTEST With the English Premier League season kicking off tonight, HT looks at the how top six teams are placed for the gruelling season
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by a closeseason transfer splurge of some £200 million (~1,666 crore ), Manchester City are the early favourites to topple Premier League champions Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola endured a bruising first season in English football as City failed to challenge for the title, finishing 15 points adrift of Chelsea in third place.
The club reacted with a glut of new signings — three new fullbacks in Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo, plus goalkeeper Ederson and playmaker Bernardo Silva — and now look a force to be reckoned with.
“I think Manchester City are the team to beat,” said Manchester United great Ryan Giggs in a recent Sky Sports column. “I looked at them towards the end of last season and the forward players they’ve got is scary.”
While City shimmered in attack, they frequently looked vulnerable in defence and resculpting the back four has been Guardiola’s main priority.
Brazilian Ederson replaces the error-prone Claudio Bravo in goal, while dynamic pair Walker and Mendy will add thrust on the flanks after becoming the world’s two most expensive defenders.
City also have John Stones and Eliaquim Mangala on their books, giving them four of the most expensive defenders ever, but with total spending in the league having exceeded £900 million (~7,496 crore), Guardiola is unrepentant.
“I would like to pay less for the club, for everybody, but the market is the market,” said the City manager. “All the clubs spend a lot of money — not just us.”
Across town at Manchester United, Guardiola’s old sparring partner Jose Mourinho is also looking to kick on after ending a difficult debut season with a silver flourish.
United finished outside the top four for the third time in four seasons, but secured a Champions League berth by winning the Europa League and also tasted glory in the League Cup.
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Mourinho won the league in his second seasons at Porto, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, as well as in both of his stints at Chelsea, but he expects this season’s title race to be an almighty scrap.
“Normally the second season should be better than the first, but again, this is modern football. The reality is totally different,” he told ESPN. “It’s getting much harder for everyone, so we don’t know.”
Chelsea, the champions, have thus far failed to significantly enhance a squad that now faces the twin rigours of a league title defence and Champions League campaign.
Alvaro Morata has replaced the exiled Diego Costa up front, Tiemoue Bakayoko has taken Matic’s place in midfield and Antonio Rudiger brings extra defensive cover, but Chelsea still look a few players short.
In the meantime, manager Antonio Conte says his main priority is to avoid what he has saltily called “the Mourinho season” in reference to the 10thplace finish that followed Chelsea’s 2015 title win.
Chelsea were sensationally upstaged by Arsenal in last season’s FA Cup final and lost to them again in Sunday’s Community Shield, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger retains little margin for error.
While Wenger has pulled off the big-name signing of Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are now in the last years of their contracts and fan dissent will quickly return if results go awry.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham are trusting in the same formula that swept them to second place last season and must adapt to a new temporary home at Wembley while White Hart Lane is rebuilt.
Fourth last season, Liverpool have signed relatively modestly, adding Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke and Andrew Robertson to their ranks.
Both Juergen Klopp’s team and their title rivals will be mindful of the menace posed by Everton, who have splashed out on young English talents like Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane, as well as bringing Wayne Rooney back to the club after his record-breaking 13-year spell at Man United. Alan Shearer
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have rejected a second bid worth €100 million for midfielder Philippe Coutinho from Spain’s Barcelona, according to British and Spanish media reports.
Barcelona are keen to sign the Brazilian playmaker, who joined Liverpool from Inter Milan for £8.5 million in 2013, and have already had an initial bid worth 80 million euros rejected by Liverpool last month. The 24-time Spanish league champions increased the offer to €85 million plus €15 million in add-ons but Liverpool have rejected the second bid, maintaining their stance that the player is not for sale.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has repeatedly said that the 25-year-old, who was a key player for the Anfield outfit last campaign, would not be sold and the club’s position is boosted by Coutinho’s signing of a new fiveyear contract last season.
Media reports indicate that Barcelona are targeting Coutinho and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele as replacements for Brazil forward Neymar, who joined Paris Saint Germain last week for a world record transfer fee of €222 million. While Spanish media have suggested that a deal for Coutinho’s move to Barcelona was close to completion, British media say Liverpool have not and will not make any plans to discuss the player’s future with the Catalan club.