Arsenal have reportedly made an offer to Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho on loan for next season in yet more madness from this transfer window.

Brazil's Philippe Coutinho gestures after tying with Paraguay 0-0 and going the the penalty shoot-out during their Copa America football tournament quarter-final match at the Gremio Arena in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on June 27, 2019. (Photo by Luis ACOSTA / AFP)
Brazil’s Philippe Coutinho gestures after tying with Paraguay 0-0 and going the the penalty shoot-out during their Copa America football tournament quarter-final match at the Gremio Arena in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on June 27, 2019. (Photo by Luis ACOSTA / AFP)

Barcelona need to sell players desperately and are trying to offload the former Liverpool star for between €60m and €100m depending on where you do your reading.

Arsenal obviously don’t have €60m let alone €100m but what they do have is a transfer team with brass balls and the cheek to ask for some of the best players in Europe on loan while they sort their finances out.

With Barcelona still pondering a move for Neymar having already shelled out for Antoinne Greizmann, they need to raise cash somehow – hence Coutinho’s reported availability.

AS write that the only clubs able to meet the demands of Barcelona lie in the Premier League. Jurgen Klopp has ruled Liverpool out, City are not interested, while Chelsea can’t buy players. United are mentioned as an option should they sell Pogba while Arsenal don’t even make AS’s list of clubs who could move for him.

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PSG have also been listed an option with a swap deal for Neymar seemingly a logical  move. AS report, however, that the PSG owners want cash, not a player, for their Brazilian.

With absolutely no evidence to back up this claim, it does feel like Arsenal are trying to land one more big attacking name for the left side of their attack. Who that will be, if they will pull it off, and why they aren’t trying to buy defenders still remain unanswered questions.

How much truth there is to claims that Arsenal have made a loan offer remains to be seen. There was little-to-nothing in the Spanish press on Saturday morning but that could well change by the time the Sunday editions are published.

Coutinho is under contract until 2023 and earns around £190kpw.

He has 41 goals and 37 assists in 152 Premier League games from his time at Liverpool. In Spain, he has 18 goals and eight assists in 68 La Liga games following his £130m transfer 18 months ago.

Update

Since I hit ‘publish’ on this piece, more has emerged from Spain including:

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