Sport are not afraid of some sensationalism, but given they’re a Catalan paper they are genuinely well connected when it comes to Barcelona, and the amount of detail they have on this Philippe Coutinho deal is truly impressive.
They lay it down on the line like so – Barca want, no need Coutinho out, and want to sell him as soon as they can.
They’ve accepted that this summer they’re not going to get anything close to the €90m they want, so they’re happy to let the Brazilian go on loan to recover some value.
Chelsea looks the most likely destination right now, and Sport say that the Blues are happy to take the loan, but want an optional purchase fee.
Barcelona are pushing for a compulsory one – at €65m, but Chelsea don’t want to get locked in to that. They’re apparently happy to offer a higher number – but only for the security of the option.