Barcelona Struggling To Find Buyers For $87M-Worth Midfielder Amid Coronavirus Crisis: Report

FC Barcelona reportedly are struggling to find buyers for their $87 million-worth midfielder, Philippe Coutinho amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Last season, Barcelona managed to send Coutinho on a loan to Bayern Munich and the deal included a $131m purchase option. However, the Brazilian midfielder has not impressed the German side having scored just eight goals in as many as 22 appearances. Hence, the Bundesliga side is not willing to trigger the mentioned clause.

Barcelona signed Coutinho from Liverpool in 2018 for a fee of $144 million, however, it is understood that over 70% of that sum, that is approximately $104m, is still unpaid. Taking this into consideration, the Catalans are aware that they are not going to make any profit from Countinho’s sale.

According to news reports, no club was willing to pay $87m for the Brazilian’s services before the coronavirus outbreak and there is no chance that will happen after the crisis times come to an end. The pandemic virus already has had major financial impacts across Europe and it looks highly unlikely that Coutinho’s transfer will fetch Barca the amount they want and that would leave the La Liga champions to once again send Countinho off on a loan next season as the 27-year-old currently is earning around $14m per year.

Barcelona reportedly are expecting amortization fees to drop to $54m by the summer of 2021 and that’s when Coutinho’s transfer could help Barcelona earn some profit. The Brazilian soccer player looks to be soon returning to the Premier League, where he spent most of his productive playing years at Anfield.

There have reports saying that Coutinho is being chased by English clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham.

At present, all the soccer leagues across the globe are suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak. While there is no news about Spain’s La Liga, the Premier League is targeting to resume its games by June.