Manchester United, Chelsea Set To Battle For Barcelona Star After Liverpool, Bayern Munich Snub The Midfielder: Report

Manchester United and Arsenal are reportedly among the Premier League clubs that have shown interest in signing Phillipe Coutinho this summer.

Coutinho, who is currently on a loan to Bayern Munich, is not expected to play in the remainder of the 2019-20 season as he recently underwent surgery for an ankle injury. Bayern have refused to sign the midfielder permanently because Barcelona have included a fee of $132 million in the purchase deal.

Coutinho moved to Barcelona from Liverpool during the January transfer market in 2018 for a massive fee of $157m. Coutinho failed to replicate his Liverpool success at Nou Camp and an impatient Barca loaned him off to Bayern Munich in Bundesliga ahead of the 2019-20 season.

Coutinho’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, has been struggling to get his client a club for next season. It was earlier reported that when Joorabchian offered the Brazilian’s services to Liverpool again, the Reds rejected the deal and made it clear that they are not looking to re-sign Coutinho, who had scored 54 goals in 204 appearances across tournaments for them.

According to a report in Mundo Deportivo, Coutinho wants to return to the Premier League and interestingly, a few clubs are interested in signing him. Apart from Man Utd and Chelsea, the likes of Arsenal, Leicester, and Newcastle are chasing the Brazilian midfielder ahead of the summer transfer window.

Barcelona are adamant about the release clause as they have valued Coutinho at $110m and the player is expected to stay at Nou Camp if they do not receive an offer of the same caliber. The report has further disclosed that Chelsea are leading the race to get Coutinho’s signatures and are understood to have agreed to the release clause as well.

In the case of Newcastle, they are waiting for their Saudi takeover to take place and if that happens, either of Mauricio Pochettino or Rafa Benítez is expected to become the club's boss and both the managers are expected to welcome Coutinho at St James’s Park.

In other news, Barcelona have reportedly offered Coutinho to Man Utd ahead of the summer transfer market considering the player wants to return to the Premier League and the Old Trafford side is looking to make a few crucial signings to strengthen their squad ahead of the 2020-21 season. With Man Utd already chasing the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish, there is no guarantee if they would end up signing Coutinho, who Barcelona desperately want to get rid of.