Philippe Coutinho is on Chelsea’s radar for the summer as the West London club begins talks with Barcelona.
The former Liverpool man is finishing up on his loan deal at Bayern Munich. He is worth over £100m and the Bundesliga giants are not willing to make his transfer permanent.
With Bayern hedging more towards Kai Havertz, Coutinho is seemingly up for sale this summer. He has struggled to fit in at Camp Nou and that is unlikely to change with Antoine Griezmann in the Barca lineup. Quique Setien admires Coutinho’s talents but the Blaugrana coach will definitely struggle to play him in his prefered number ten position.
Sport claims that Chelsea have contacted Barcelona over a loan deal for Coutinho. The deal is meant to be a similar one as Bayern’s where the Blues will pay Coutinho’s wages and have a buy-back clause in place. Bayern were charged £15m loan fee for a single season.
With the suspension of football across Europe, this has allowed clubs to get a head start on their summer recruitments. Players are expected to return to fitness much sooner with an an extended period of resting period. Chelsea have amped up their negotiations, looking ambitiously to succeed next season under Frank Lampard.
Adding Coutinho into the ranks will add a different level of creativity into this Blues side. Lampard’s attacking system could be fully unleashed with a quality midfielder like Coutinho. The Brazilian keen on returning to the Premier League as well, after 5 seasons with Liverpool.
READ MORE: Chelsea Transfer Targets list summer 2020
