Ousmane Dembele Or Philippe Coutinho: Who Should Leave Barcelona? Here Is What Lionel Messi Says

Lionel Messi reportedly has asked FC Barcelona to sell Ousmane Dembele and not Philippe Coutinho this summer transfer window.

The former Liverpool midfielder currently is on loan to Bayern Munch but the Bundesliga leaders have not initiated talks about signing Coutinho permanently for his fee of $130 million. Meanwhile, the Brazilian playmaker is heavily linked with a return to Premier League ahead of the next season as clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal are chasing him and the French side, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) as well to take him to Ligue 1.

Barcelona’s primary targets – Neymar and Lautaro Martinez, are proving to be expensive signings and the current coronavirus outbreak has made it further difficult for the Catalans, who have suffered a major financial impact in the process. In order to even attempt to make one of these signings, Barcelona will have to let go of a few players and on the top of their list have been Dembele and Coutinho, as each of them is expected to earn Barca at least $124m.

While Dembele, who Barca signed from Dortmund for $120m in 2017, has been highly injury-prone and has started in just 35 matches in La Liga in the last three seasons, Coutinho has failed to produce performances of the same level he did at Anfield.

According to The Athletic, Barcelona skipper has been irked with the club’s management for the way they have treated Coutinho. The report further stated that Messi and Barcelona’s other senior members are aware the club has to sell a player to re-sign Neymar and they have made it clear that they would prefer Dembele’s trade instead of Coutinho’s.

It is understood that the Brazil midfielder last week came close to closing a deal with Chelsea and the Blues have not made a final offer yet. Meanwhile, it was also reported that the former Reds midfielder has undergone an operation on his ankle and is set to be sidelined for a couple of weeks. Since all the soccer leagues, across the globe, have been halted in the wake of the pandemic virus, Coutinho will not miss any matches.