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Football London
Football London
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Andy Ha

Philippe Coutinho must perform U-turn to seal Chelsea move after transfer conversation

Philippe Coutinho's agent Kia Joorabchian previously admitted that his client would find it difficult to play for a Premier League club other than Liverpool.

The midfielder left Anfield to join Barcelona in a £142million deal in January 2018, but has struggled to recapture the form he showed during his time in Merseyside.

After failing to impress in an 18-month spell, Barca sent Coutinho on loan to Bayern Munich but the Bundesliga side are set to turn down the £120million option they have in place to sign him permanently.

This has seen Chelsea linked with a move for the former Reds playmaker, with reports claiming Frank Lampard is keen to add some creativity to his side this summer.

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The Blues are reportedly one of the clubs that have been offered the chance to sign the Brazil international from Barcelona when the transfer window reopens.

But Coutinho's agent Kia Joorabchian confirmed last year that the star would find it hard to represent any other club apart from Liverpool, after a conversation between the pair.

"Manchester United is a great club, I have players there and I have all the respect for them, but as far as Philippe goes it would be an extremely difficult to a near-impossible move,” he said on talkSPORT.

"It would be very difficult for Philippe to play for any of Liverpool’s rivals, because he has such a great affinity towards Liverpool. His time there was fantastic.

"Like all big players at some point, you want to experience a different thing in your career because your career is very short, but it [his Anfield exit] has no reflection on the fact his heart and affinity is very much with Liverpool."

Joorabchian continued: "I know he was cheering every time they had the chance. Lucas Leiva is the same way. A lot of these guys who leave Liverpool remain Liverpool fans because of the fans and the passion they have. So it would be hard for him to go to a rival.

"Every time we’ve spoken about it we’ve had that same conversation, he would find it hard to play for another club in the Premier League.

"Obviously if he were to move back [to the Premier League], it would have to be Liverpool, but at the moment I think it would be difficult and it would be up to them."

A year on, Joorabchian has confirmed that no talks have been held with any club about signing the Brazilian.

Speaking again on talkSPORT, the agent said: “Philippe at the moment, he’s at Bayern, but he’s sidelined at the moment.

“He’s had an injury, he had an operation two weeks ago on his ankle and he is six weeks for recovery for that, which unfortunately means he’ll probably miss a chunk of the Bundesliga. Hopefully he’ll be fit for the tail end of the season.

“But in terms of the rumours? At the moment we have not spoken to anybody about any deals whatsoever.

“I think at the moment everyone’s concentration is on this pandemic and how football can restart in a safe and secure environment, and the health of safety of everybody.

“The transfer side of things and where Philippe will go, or where other players will go, will come into play further down the line when things have got back to some sort of normality.”

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