The links pushing Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool towards Chelsea in recent weeks have all been predicated on one thing – the idea that the midfielder is certain to leave Barcelona.
The question has been framed as “will he join Chelsea” rather than as “will he leave Barcelona”.
It’s seemed a given, looking at the sources in Spain which seemed to say he was unwanted, and had not much love left for the club either.
But as always, there’s another side to the story, and now the Daily Mail are reporting that manager Quique Setien isn’t giving up on his man just yet, and his quotes from Spanish radio show that he’s going to keep up a pretense of wanting him, at the very least:
“Coutinho? I like him very much,” the former Betis coach told RAC 1.
“He is still a Barcelona player. You have to pay the clause or a transfer fee to Barca. I think he can be here at the beginning of next season. I don’t know if he wants to come back or go away again, I have to talk to him to ask him. He is a great player, no doubt about it,” he went on.
Now that’s no guarantee he will be sticking around, it’s jut natural that the coach will want to inflate the value of one of the assets the club might sell. But given Setien only had 12 games in charge, and didn’t actually get to manage Coutinho (who has been on loan at Bayern Munich), could it be that the Cantabrian is actually telling the truth, and he does want a chance to work with the Brazilian?
It’s certainly not impossible.
