According to a latest report in Spain, Barcelona is ready to negotiate a lower fee with Bayern Munich for Philippe Coutinho next summer.
Bayern Munich will have to make numerous key decisions about the future of star players next summer. The future of Philippe Coutinho will be on the agenda for Die Roten as his one-year loan spell will come to an end in 2020.
Bayern have the option to sign Coutinho for a reported transfer fee in the region on 120 million next summer. He will become the club’s record signing as it will easily surpass the fee paid by the club for Lucas Hernandez last summer.
This transfer fee is huge considering Coutinho’s form in the past 18 months. The German club may hesitate to activate this option considering the other pressing issues in the squad. However, Bayern may not have to pay this amount as Barcelona is reportedly ready to negotiate a fee for the Brazilian forward.
According to AS, Barcelona does not want to see Coutinho playing in Blaugrana colours again. This report also insists that the Spanish club will be open to sit on the table with Bayern and negotiate a lower fee for Coutinho. SportBild’s Christian Falk has also confirmed that the Spanish side is ready to compromise on a lower fee for the former Liverpool forward.
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Coutinho has made a fine start to his career at Bayern. The Brazilian initially needed time to get back to complete fitness due to participating in Copa America during summer. After achieving complete fitness, Coutinho has started showing his world-class ability in the past one month. He has firmly cemented his place in the starting lineup at the expense of Thomas Muller.
The Brazilian can provides the guile in the final third, which can help in breaking down the stubborn defense. He has contributed to five goals for Bayern across all competitions. Along with creating chances for his teammates, Coutinho also has a very good knack of scoring goals from setpieces.
If he manages to remain consistent throughout the season, then Bayern is likely to sign him permanently. There is still a lot of work for Coutinho to seal this permanent transfer. The signs are positive, but the sample size is small.
Bayern took their time to decide on signing James Rodriguez, hence I expect them to follow a similar approach in Coutinho’s case. Kai Havertz will also make a huge impact on the Brazilian’s future in Bavaria. The German is heavily linked with Die Roten, but the club can afford only one out of these two players next summer.