That in turn resulted in the decision to ship him out on a season-long loan deal to Bayern Munich last summer, where Coutinho has again struggled to hit top form as he’s bagged nine goals and eight assists in 32 outings.
Sports Livestream ⚽ JOIN NOW for FREE
Instant access to the BT Sport, Sky Sports and Eurosport
While those arguably aren’t terrible tallies, for a player of his quality and the figures involved, with BBC Sport noting that Bayern have a €120m option to buy inserted in their loan agreement, much more is perhaps expected of the Brazilian international.
As things stand, with Bayern not indicating a desire to make his move permanent as of yet, Coutinho could be on his way back to Barcelona this summer and as per the Express, he has been linked with a move to Chelsea.
However, Sport have now reported that Barcelona don’t want to sell him for anything less than €90m in order to avoid making a loss on him, and so it remains to be seen if that touted price-tag puts any interested parties off from making a move to sign him outright this summer.
Chelsea are again specifically mentioned in the report above as being interested in a move, while a key condition is being stipulated if he leaves on loan initially. While there is interest in an initial loan move for Coutinho, Barcelona want an obligation to buy, and not an option, to be included in the agreement for 2021.
That in turn could lead to a negotiation over a loan fee and a lesser figure to sign him outright 12 months later, but an option to buy is seemingly not something that Barca are keen on.
With that in mind, it remains to be seen whether or not Chelsea or any other interested party is willing to satisfy Barcelona’s touted demands to give Coutinho a fresh start elsewhere next season.
