It’s that frenzied stage of the season when transfer talk takes centre stage.
Manchester United have yet to make a signing under interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but that hasn’t stopped the club from being linked with a plethora of players, including a former Premier League starlet who could be set to switch Spain for England this very window.
Earlier this week Philippe Coutinho was thrown into the Red Devils mix, despite only leaving United’s rivals Liverpool for Barcelona a year ago.
The Brazilian is reportedly not happy at losing his place in Barcelona’s starting line-up, having not started a La Liga game since the early days of December, instead being restricted to substitute appearances as Ousmane Dembele is emerges as the preference for boss Ernesto Valverde.
But, while Man Utd have been rumoured to be eager to offer Coutinho an escape route over at Old Trafford, El Gol Digital reports that their top-four foes Chelsea have entered the race to snap up the disgruntled winger.
The publication states that the Blues could even let Eden Hazard go in the other direction in what would be a sensational swap deal, although we doubt many Blues fans would be happy if it came to fruition.
Should Maurizio Sarri want to purchase the playmaker outright, then he would have to splash the cash, with Caught Offside reporting last week that Barcelona will only consider offers over £100m.
The 26-year-old sealed a staggering £146m switch to the Catalan club in January 2018, which included a whopping £354.6m buy out clause.
If Coutinho does return to these shores, we’re sure Liverpool fans wouldn’t be overly ecstatic at seeing their former fans favourite pull on the shirt of one of their fierce rivals.
