{"id":381043,"date":"2017-12-07T17:01:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T17:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=381043"},"modified":"2017-12-08T15:04:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T15:04:45","slug":"philippe-coutinho-admits-to-barcelona-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/philippe-coutinho-admits-to-barcelona-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippe Coutinho admits to Barcelona interest"},"content":{"rendered":"
Philippe Coutinho has admitted he was “interested” in a move to Barcelona last summer and is unsure what the future holds for him at Liverpool.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old had a transfer request rejected in August, as the Reds turned down three bids from the La Liga club.<\/p>\n
“I do not know how the future is going to be,” said the forward, who signed a five-year deal at the start of 2017.<\/p>\n
“What will happen in January, we will know it in January. I do not know if there will be an offer.”<\/p>\n
Barcelona targeted Coutinho after selling his fellow Brazilian Neymar to Paris St-Germain for a world record fee of \u00a3200m.<\/p>\n
Liverpool said the playmaker was not for sale and\u00a0rejected bids\u00a0of \u00a372m, \u00a390m and one in the region of \u00a3114m prior to the transfer deadline in Spain, which closed a day later than in England.<\/p>\n
After missing the start of the season through injury, Coutinho has since scored nine goals in 13 appearances – including a hat-trick in Wednesday’s\u00a07-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow\u00a0in the Champions League.<\/p>\n
He continued: “Last summer there was a job offer in the same way that happens with any employee and I was interested in it. Since I stayed I have played with will and desire.<\/p>\n
“Of course a lot happened in the summer but my will is always to play and do the best wherever I am – that has not changed.<\/p>\n
“I am here (at Liverpool), we have a lot of games and I try to do my best to help. I always do my best when I have the opportunity to play, respecting the jersey and the supporters.”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philippe Coutinho has admitted he was “interested” in a move to Barcelona last summer and is unsure what the future holds for him at Liverpool. The 25-year-old had a transfer request rejected in August, as the Reds turned down three bids from the La Liga club. “I do not know how the future is going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":381044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[319,165,15268],"yoast_head":"\n