Barcelona’s Sporting Director Roberto Fernandez says that talks are ongoing between Barcelona and Liverpool over the transfer of Philippe Coutinho, who misses this weekend’s home game with Crystal Palace with a back injury.
Liverpool have already rejected bids of £70m and £90m for Coutinho, but the Brazilian submitted a transfer request last week, which will encourage Barcelona to again test Liverpool’s resolve. The Spanish club say that talks continue, but are difficult.
“We are negotiating and that is the truth. With all respect to both clubs, logically in a negotiation you need time to reach agreements for them and for us,” Fernandez said.
“We still have days ahead and we would like to go forward with this. It is true and I recognise this, that they are two players (Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele) we feel like bringing here.
“Not just Barca but any team looking for top quality players are getting involved in a very difficult situation in this market.
“Why? Because the market is where clubs like us want to sign top quality players. There’s no buy-out clause so that makes things trickier.
“Yes, we are negotiating with clubs to make several signings, but in all awareness of the difficulty. We need to work our way into a favourable situation and hopefully close these deals as quickly as possible.
“Dembele and Coutinho are two important players that we like a lot and have done for a long time. They have the conditions, the right age and could adapt to our football. They would be good to have here. That’s the reality.
“With respect to Liverpool and Dortmund, when there are negotiations you need time, you need to work things into a favourable situation for players and ourselves.
“We still have days ahead of us, would like to move things faster, but do admit they’re two players we would like here. But it’s the clubs who will have the final say on if we finally achieve those two transfers.”
