Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona: Liverpool instantly reject fresh £90.3m bid for star man

Posted Thursday, August 10, 2017 by Express.co.uk

Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona: Liverpool instantly reject fresh £90.3m bid for star man
Barcelona have made a second bid of £90m Philippe Coutinho

BARCELONA have made a second bid of £90.3m for Philippe Coutinho - but it has been immediately rejected by Liverpool.

Barcelona have made Coutinho their number one target as they look to replace Neymar following his £198m departure to PSG.

And they have returned with another bid for the Anfield star totalling €100m (£93.3m), but Liverpool rejected it instantly.

Coutinho is understood to be keen on a move to the Nou Camp but does not want to rock the boat and will not request a transfer.

Barcelona were hopeful of having him in place this weekend and reports this week have suggested a deal has been agreed.

However the emergence of this latest bid shows those reports have been premature although it is thought a deal between Coutinho’s people and Barca has been agreed in principle.

Liverpool would loathe to lose their star player so close to the start of the season and Jurgen Klopp has maintained the stance that he is not for sale throughout the summer.

But Coutinho is a doubt for the Premier League opener against Watford on Sunday anyway and has not trained fully during pre season.

Liverpool believe they can get at least one more year out of Coutinho, in a similar way to when they sold Luis Suarez to Barca in 2014 - a year after the initial contact.

But with Barca now loaded with cash it remains to be seen how high they will push in an effort to force the move through.

The deal to take Neymar to PSG has seen them flushed with fresh money enabling them to move back into the market for Coutinho.

But Liverpool want to keep him for their return to the Champions League and to help a title charge under Klopp.

Former Liverpool star Steve Nicol has told the club they must keep Coutinho and could see another 25 years without a league title if they sell him now.

"Liverpool fans are going to be absolutely distraught if Coutinho is allowed to go," he said on ESPN.

"If Liverpool turn around and say 'we let him go because he made his mind up or he wasn't happy and we didn't want somebody in the squad rocking the boat' then don't give me that, I don't want to here that. That's absolute nonsense.

"All you've got to do is turn round and say 'no, we want to do better in the Premier League, we want to have a chance of winning the Premier League and we're keeping our best players'.

"That's what I want to hear and if you turn round and you sell him, get the white flags out, somebody turn the lights out because it would be another 25 years before we win the Premier League if they keep getting rid of the best players."