Finally, September is here.
The transfer rumour river which threatened to burst its banks over the summer months is now nothing more than a pathetic trickle.
Despite this fact, talk of Barcelona’s unsuccessful pursuit of Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho refuses to go away.
Barca, with an extra £200m in their transfer coffers following the sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, saw several bids for Coutinho knocked back by the Anfield club. The Brazilian remains a Liverpool player, even though he made it known that he wished to make the move to the Camp Nou.
While many of the club’s supporters will hope Coutinho can put the events of summer behind him, it appears his reintegration into Liverpool’s first team may be slightly complicated.
Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol, a man who must be thoroughly sick and tired of tweeting Coutinho updates this summer, has pointed out that – according to the Barcelona-based paper Sport – the player is ‘monumentally angry’ at Liverpool for blocking his move to Barca.
Barcelona paper Sport says Coutinho "monumentally angry" with Liverpool. He will refuse to play in the Champions League. Good luck with that
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) September 5, 2017
Despite being named in Jürgen Klopp’s Champions League squad on Monday, Solhekol’s tweet claims the 25-year-old will refuse to play in the competition – perhaps to try and force a January transfer to Catalonia.
Coutinho is currently with his national team ahead of a World Cup qualifier with Colombia on Tuesday. He is expected back on Merseyside ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League meeting with Manchester City on Saturday.
