- Barcelona must exceed bid made over summer to sign Philippe Coutinho
- Catalan giants have not yet reached an agreement with Liverpool over transfer
- Nike created controversy as they dropped major hint transfer was close
- READ MORE: ‘Total disrespect’ – Liverpool fans furious as they react to Nike leak on Coutinho
It’s the transfer saga that seemingly continues to rumble on, and as of yet as per reports, Liverpool and Barcelona haven’t reached an agreement on Philippe Coutinho.
Nike caused a storm over the weekend as they began promoting Coutinho at Barca, as seen in the image in the tweet below.
Naturally, that got everyone talking over whether or not the Brazilian international had edged closer to moving to the Nou Camp, but no official line has come out from either club to suggest that is the case.
This graphic promoting Coutinho as a Barcelona player is on the Nike website…and when you type his name into the search engine on the site, it takes you to the Barca section! Even if he’s going, that’s bad form #LFC pic.twitter.com/7qPFAYtLyf
— Kevin Palmer (@RealKevinPalmer) December 31, 2017
According to The Times, the situation hasn’t even changed from last week, last month or indeed last summer, as no agreement exists between the two clubs on a transfer fee.
It’s claimed that if Barcelona want to prise Coutinho away from Anfield, they will have to splash out over £118m, more than the bid that they saw rejected over the summer, to even test Liverpool’s resolve and convince them to part company with their prized asset.
Given the 25-year-old has scored 12 goals and provided nine assists in 20 appearances in all competitions so far this season, Liverpool will surely have zero interest in losing him halfway through the season as they hope to secure their top-four spot and get back into the Champions League next season.
In turn, it looks complicated for Barca to land his signature, as although it’s added in the report that Coutinho wants to join them, it won’t matter unless they can convince Liverpool to sell.
As a result, Reds fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the weekend’s events, as unless Barcelona make a satisfactory offer and Liverpool have a change of heart to allow Coutinho to leave, it doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere this month.