Report: Barcelona Deems Coutinho Transfer 'Impossible' as Liverpool Refuses to Negotiate
Is it finally over? Barcelona's hopes of landing Philippe Coutinho are branded 'impossible' as the Sunday deadline the Spanish side set Liverpool to negotiate by has now passed.
The Echo reported that a Catalan radio station, RAC1 said: "Barcelona deem finding a breakthrough with Liverpool impossible."
This comes after the club offered a massive £117m to Liverpool for their little Brazilian and then gave the Reds a deadline till Sunday to accept the offer.
Liverpool have been clear from the first offer, which was £72m, that Coutinho is not for sale under any price whatsoever. The former La Liga champions then offered a second bid in the region of £90m, which was also rejected.
Coutinho emailed in a transfer request to try and force a move through but Liverpool's stance remains unchanged. The Brazilian international has not featured for Liverpool since pre-season and has missed the first few games of the season with a back injury.
Barcelona are desperate to secure the services of Coutinho following the departure of their own Brazilian, Neymar. The Catalan club have £197m of Neymar money to spend and Coutinho is on the top of their wish list.
Although it seems as if a move for the current Liverpool midfielder is ending, Barcelona may turn their attention to Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund, who is also expressed his desire to join the Spanish side.
