Charles Watts, the Arsenal correspondent for Goal, has been discussing the reports linking Philippe Coutinho with a move to the Emirates Stadium during a recent YouTube video.
Coutinho previously represented Liverpool, for whom he made 201 appearances, scoring 54 goals and providing 45 assists, but left the Premier League to join the La Liga giants Barcelona in January 2018 (as per Transfermarkt.co.uk).
Despite paying a reported £130.5m to take the 28-year-old to Camp Nou, we can assume the Catalan club weren’t impressed by what they saw from the Brazilian because he was loaned out to Bayern Munich at the start of the 2019/20 campaign (via Transfermarkt.co.uk).
The attacking midfielder made 23 appearances in the Bundesliga for the Bavarians last season, scoring eight times and providing six assists, in our view, proving he can still be effective in one of Europe’s top leagues.
Is the player London-bound though? Here is what Watts had to say on the matter in his latest update:
“Sources at Arsenal have come out pretty strongly on this one [and] have told me that it’s not happening and that Coutinho won’t be signing for Arsenal.
“The noises coming out of Arsenal have been pretty strong, not just to me, but to other journalists as well. Sources very deep inside of Arsenal are saying Coutinho isn’t going to happen now.
“As it stands right now, it is not a transfer they are looking to pursue.”
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TIF Thoughts…
Earlier this week, the Gunners announced they would be proposing 55 redundancies in order to help them cope with the impact of the recent viral outbreak and having reportedly made a formal offer to Chelsea’s Willian, it appears likely Mikel Arteta’s side may struggle to sign both players this summer, particularly in light of recent events and Watts’ information.