Barcelona have made Philippe Coutinho their number one priority after losing Neymar – and want to sign the Liverpool star by the end of the week.
Spanish giants Barca have been left reeling after Brazilian ace Neymar told them he wanted to quit the club and move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barca know there is little they can do to stop one of their biggest stars walking out of the Nou Camp now PSG are about to activate the £196million release clause in his contract.
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But Mundo Deportivo say the La Liga club will move swiftly to bring in a replacement for Neymar – with Liverpool ace Coutinho the man they want.
The respected Spanish paper have correctly revealed Barca’s two previous failed bids for the Brazilian.
And now they say the club are ready to come back in with a third bid, closer to £96m, in an effort to land the Liverpool star.
They even suggest Barca want to get the deal wrapped up by the end of this week so he can be presented to the club’s fans on Monday.
Barcelona are playing a prestige friendly that day against Chapecoense, the Brazilian club who suffered the tragedy of losing most of their squad in a plane crash last year.
The club believe they have already done enough to persuade Coutinho that he should be swapping Anfield for the Nou Camp.
Now they are attempting to pressure the Liverpool board into cashing in on their best player.
At 25, the attacking midfielder is approaching his peak and manager Jurgen Klopp is desperate to build his team around him.
He has been forced to plead with the player not to ask for a move, because the temptation from Barca is so big.
Liverpool have maintained publicly that they have no intention of selling as they desperately try to assemble a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League.
But the kind of money on offer is now getting hard to resist, especially if the player himself is starting to lean towards moving to Spain.
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