Reports: 3 Premier League clubs eye Philippe Coutinho
Philippe Coutinho has offers from three Premier League clubs, according to Sport. They report that Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City are keen on signing the Brazilian from Barcelona this summer.
The Catalan side are keen on getting him off their books this summer as he has no future at the club. The former Liverpool star has not managed to make an impact at the Camp Nou and was loaned out to Bayern Munich this season. The Bundesliga side had an option to sign him permanently but decided not to use it.
Confirming that Bayern Munich did not activate the option to sign Philippe Coutinho permanently, the club's chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said:
“The option expired and we haven’t activated it. We’re going to plan our squad for next season and we’ll see if he still has a role to play with us or not.”
Rummenigge has left the door open for a return but with the signings made so far and the financial issues, Bayern Munich are unlikely to sign Philippe Coutinho this summer.
Philippe Coutinho eyes Premier League return
Philippe Coutinho's agent, Kia Joorabchian, has already confirmed that the Brazilian is interested in making a return to the Premier League. The agent was talking to Sky Sports earlier this year when he revealed the desire of the Barcelona star, but hinted that it might not happen soon -
“He has a desire to come back to the Premier League at some point. It may not happen this year, it may happen this year, we don’t know. We really have not discussed anything for now.”
Now with SPORT's reports that Arsenal, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur are interested, it would be interesting to see who picks him up. Philippe Coutinho was a big star in the league during his Liverpool days and that is what got Barcelona to pay over the odds to land him.
Arsenal are currently the favourites to sign him this summer as they have a good connection with his agent, Joorabchian. Moreover, they need a player to fill in the void left by Mesut Ozil in the starting XI after the German was isolated from the squad.