Liverpool Ignore Barcelona’s Latest Approach for Philippe Coutinho

Barca’s press mouthpieces claim done deal but Liverpool won’t pick up the phone. Same as it ever was. Yesterday, the Catalan press claimed Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona was a done deal. That a €150M fee had been agreed and that the player would join the La Liga side in January. Given the suggestion from the Liverpool end continues to be that the club isn’t interested in doing a deal, skepticism seemed the best response.

Today, it appears that skepticism may have been well warranted and that, as was so often the case last summer, the Catalan press was simply pushing Barcelona spin: telling one side of the story and casting it in the kindest, most optimistic light imaginable; reporting on a future they’d like rather than the one that’s likely.

Yesterday, it was Sport calling the deal d...