Barcelona are reportedly outlining their plan for Philippe Coutinho if the Brazilian doesn’t join Bayern Munich permanently in the summer.
Sport report that Barca are still unsure whether the German giants will turn their loan deal for the Brazilian into a straight transfer at the end of the season, with a fee of €120million attached to his current temporary stay.
Coutinho’s performances in Munich have been somewhat hit and miss, and he has found himself in and out of the team under the current boss Hansi Flick.
The former Liverpool star has scored nine goals in 31 appearances for Bayern this season, but he has often found himself on the fringes during the bigger matches in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League, where he started on the bench in the recent 3-0 win at Chelsea .
The playmaker has plenty of fans within the Bayern squad, including his fellow Brazilian Rafinha who is quoted by Sport as saying: “Philippe is a super player. Bayern need a Brazilian in their team and Coutinho is world class.”
But, fearful that Bayern won’t exercise their option to buy him, Barca are said to be considering what to do with a player who appears to have little future at the Nou Camp.
The Sport report says Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain are ready to make an offer for Coutinho in the summer if he doesn’t go to Bayern, but Barca’s plan is to use the attacking midfielder as a makeweight in their own major transfer deals.
The move to sign Neymar from PSG is likely to be resurrected in the summer as the forward seeks to force his way out of the French capital, and Coutinho could be used in a deal to re-sign the world’s most expensive player.