European Giants Scuppered Barca Move for Liverpool Star Coutinho as They Refused to Consider Deal

Liverpool insisted all summer that Philippe Coutinho was not for sale at any price as Barcelona tried in vain to prise the Brazilian away, but fresh gossip from Germany now claims the Reds were willing to sell if they'd been able to land Thomas Muller as a replacement.

Barcelona officials have claimed on a couple of occasions since the transfer window closed that they believed Coutinho very much was for sale because they say Liverpool quoted €200m.

Alex Livesey/GettyImages

If it's true that the Reds were looking for a replacement - Thomas Lemar was seriously rumoured at the time - then perhaps there really was a chance they were prepared to let Coutinho, who it must be stated had already submitted a transfer request, leave.

According to SportBild, Liverpool had identified Muller as the player they wanted. It is claimed that Liverpool were ready to sell Coutinho if the German star agreed to make the move.

Barcelona kept making bigger offers the longer the transfer saga dragged on. Liverpool continued to reject them, but maybe they would have accepted one had Muller been lined up.

The only issue was that Bayern Munich quickly put a stop to Liverpool's interest. The reigning Bundesliga champions apparently did not even consider selling their home-grown hero and so Liverpool had no choice but to desperately hold onto Coutinho instead.

Muller has emerged as one of the most consistent and reliable forwards in Europe over the last eight years since becoming a regular part of the Bayern team in 2009. He scored 32 goals in all competitions in 2015/16, an excellent record for someone who isn't a 'striker'.

His goal tally badly dipped last season, though. He managed just nine in all competitions, the lowest single season haul of his career.