Barcelona are planning to move for Mesut Özil in January, as their deal to sign Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool is on the rocks, as things stand.

That’s according to Marca via Express, who claim Barca manager Ernesto Valverde will move for Özil as a cheaper alternative, considering his contract will expire at the end of the season.

The Catalan club’s interest in Coutinho was widely publicised over the summer. At the time, the media published these same rumours that Barcelona could turn to Özil instead.

However, when bids for the Brazilian failed, nothing happened. Plus, no Barcelona official or player has come out to talk about the 29-year-old, as they have with the Liverpool man.

It’s hard to tell if these rumours are just paper talk, or if there’s something more substantial behind them. Certainly, Özil has performed well enough to draw interest from Barcelona recently.

The World Cup winner has regularly been Arsenal’s best player. In particular, he scored a couple of vital goals against Newcastle and Liverpool.

If the former Real Madrid man doesn’t sign a new contract in the next few days, the situation will only get more intense in January. Barcelona could agree pre-contract terms with him next month, so Arsenal are running out of time.