Barcelona Transfer Roundup: The latest development on Coutinho and Dembele
Barcelona have faced a couple of setbacks in their quest to bolster their ranks. With less than three weeks remaining in the transfer window, the Catalans will need to speed up their transfer activities after seeing Neymar depart for PSG earlier this summer
Liverpool confirm Coutinho is not for sale
After rejecting a second bid in the ballpark of €100m, Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group Club have confirmed that they are not going to sell the Brazilian this summer.
They revealed in a statement that the club's definitive stance is that "no offers for Philippe Coutinho will be considered". They also added that "Philippe will remain a member of Liverpool Football Club when the summer window closes."
Barcelona who were hot on Coutinho's heels will consider this a major setback. Following the departure of Neymar, the Catalans have more than one problem to address in their line-up. They had been hoping to bring Coutinho to bolster their midfield ranks after the last season's signings have proved to not be up to par.
It is likely that the Catalan giants will switch their focus elsewhere as Jurgen Klopp has insisted strongly that Coutinho is not for sale and that the Reds aren't a selling club.
However, in the last few hours a number of journalists close to Liverpool have reported that the Brazilian is trying to force a move to Barcelona.
€100m bid for Dembele rejected but Barca could still sign him
Dortmund have revealed in a statement to the stock market that they have rejected Barcelona's initial bid for the French international. The clubs are far apart in their valuation of the 20-year-old. Dortmund expect Barca to return with an offer of around €150m.
The club said, "(Barcelona's offer) did not correspond to the player's extraordinary footballing value and status as well as to the current economic market situation of the European transfer market."
"A transfer of the player to FC Barcelona is at present not more than likely."
Barcelona rate Dembele as a like-for-like replacement for Neymar.
It has been widely reported, however, that the French winger is however interested in moving to Nou Camp. Dembele went AWOL from training on Thursday and has been slapped with a 2-week wage fine and suspended from training till Monday.
Barcelona initiate talks with Spurs for Christian Eriksen
According to The Daily Express, the Catalans are growing resigned to the fact that they will not be able to sign Coutinho after all. So they have now seemingly moved on to Christian Eriksen of Tottenham whose subtle brilliance was at the centre of Tottenham's solid run of form in the 2016/17 campaign.
The Dane will be playing his fifth season at Spurs if he stays and he had extended his contract recently. Tottenham insists that none of their best players are for sale and have already laughed off moves for Eric Dier and Dele Alli.
Barcelona are reportedly ready to launch a bid of €54m for Eriksen.