Paper Round: Liverpool refuse to budge on Philippe Coutinho move

It's Wednesday's Paper Round on Olomoinfo Blog. Philippe Coutinho dominates Wednesday's papers as speculation ramps up over a possible agreement between Liverpool and Barcelona.

Liverpool reject Barca Coutinho bid – or do they?

Wednesday’s back pages were thrown into chaos by late reports on Tuesday that Liverpool had agreed a deal with Barcelona for midfielder Philippe Coutinho, after a number led with variations of a “Coutinho stays put” theme. The Daily Star was among those to suggest Liverpool were adamant the 25-year-old was not for sale, in the face of an offer to the tune of £120 million by the Spanish giants.

 

Our view: With all the reports on Tuesday claiming that Barcelona had agree a deal with Liverpool for Coutinho, one would think that by Wednesday he should be a Barca player. Barca desperately needs a replacement for the departed Neymar but Liverpool are adamant that the Brazilian is not for sale. If reports that Coutinho has handed in a tranfer request were true, then there's nothing much Liverpool can do to keep hold of him this season. Demand your prize and let Barca have their man. Theres still enough time for Liverpool to find a replacement for him.

Saints to let van Dijk 'rot'?

Meanwhile, the transfer window looked set to land Liverpool another blow as it was reported Southampton would rather leave wayward defender Virgil van Dijk “to rot” than sell to them. Several papers quote a Southampton source as having said: “We do not want to sell Virgil to Liverpool and will happily let him sit in the stands all season if we have to.”

 

Our view: Okay it's getting messy now. Southampton don't want to sell to Liverpool at any cost and what does that mean to Liverpool? back-off and move on. Even though the defender prefers a move to Liverpool, the Saint would still be willing to sell but not to Liverpool, so City and Chelsea should tske note. We hope this is settled sooner rather than later because van Dijk needs to be playing again soon.

Mourinho 'over' Bale transfer

Gareth Bale’s inclusion in the Real Madrid starting XI on Tuesday night appeared to signal the end of any gossip over the Welshman’s possible move to Old Trafford. Though Bale has been linked with a move from Real recently, and Mourinho was in the frame to exploit any move by the Liga champions for Monaco starlet Kylian Mbappe, Mourinho said of the 28-year-old’s starting spot: “I think now everybody knows he is going to stay…For me, game over, even before it started.”

 

Our view: This looks like an impossible deal from the beginning. Bale is going nowhere and Jose knows it! Time to move on.