BARCA BACK IN FOR COUTINHO
Kop ready to fight new bid by Spanish giants
BARCELONA are planning to launch a fresh bid for Philippe Coutinho in January.
The Catalan giants are set to anger Kop chiefs by chasing the Brazil ace again when the transfer window reopens. Liverpool insist the player is still not for sale at any price and that they will not listen to offers during the season. They refused to sell him in the summer, despite being offered £118m and the ® player putting in a transfer request. But Barca chief executive Oscar Grau yesterday claimed: “We are ready to buy Coutinho in the winter market, or any player the technical staff request.
“But it is important to adjust ourselves, so if there are to be arrivals, there must be exits as well.” Liverpool were upset by Barca’s very
public pursuit of their star player in the summer and are less than impressed by yesterday’s latest unwanted development.
They remain determined to hold on to Coutinho after standing firm in the summer.
The Brazilian missed the start of the campaign citing a back injury during Barcelona’s prolonged pursuit.
But he has been in fine form since his return to the squad, scoring in his last three games.
He returned to Merseyside yesterday after featuring for Brazil in their 3-0 win over Chile on Tuesday night.
Liverpool will hope the latest news out of Spain will not disturb him ahead of their crunch clash with Manchester United at Anfield on Saturday.
They are already without Sadio Mane for the visit of United after he was ruled out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury picked up playing for Senegal at the weekend.