BBC presenter Gary Lineker has questioned reports that Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Barcelona attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho.
There have been claims in the Catalan media that Barca would sell the former Liverpool player for €90m (£79m) and after the news filtered through to the English press, Lineker took to Twitter to ask why the La Liga club would offer the midfielder to just one club:
This nonsense always makes me laugh. If a club wants to sell a player, they’d hardly limit it to a few clubs of their choosing. “Hi there Mr Abramovich, we want to sell you Coutinho and we don’t want him to go anywhere but Chelsea.” “How considerate, we’ll take him.” ? https://t.co/O3pVxv47lK
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 22, 2020
Lineker may be misinterpreting the story slightly. Newspapers and websites tend to use one club in their headlines to attract attention, but it is likely Coutinho has been offered to a whole host of clubs and agents.
Barcelona are said to be looking to free up funds for signing Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez, as well as reviving their attempts to re-sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain.
With Bayern Munich unlikely to take up their option to sign Coutinho for €120m following his loan spell, Barca will almost certainly make him available for a lower amount.
