Levante’s Montenegrin midfielder Nikola Vukcevic (L) challenges Barcelona’s Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Levante UD at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on December 13, 2020. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP) (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
El Tri unconvincing as knockout games at hand
Philippe Coutinho of FC Barcelona lies injured during the La Liga match between Barcelona and SD Eibar at Camp Nou on Dec. 29, 2020. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Barcelona rumored to be involved in another possible swap deal
Barcelona are once again being linked with another swap deal involving one of their high-profile players. This time the team on the other side is AC Milan.
According to Sport, the Catalan side is very much interested in the Milan center-back, Alessio Romagnoli. The 26-year old only has one year left on his contract and has no intention of signing an extension.
On the Milan side of things, the Italian club have shown interest in both Miralem Pjanic and Philippe Coutinho. Sport also reports that their interest in the Brazilian has not wavered.
Coutinho is potentially seen as a replacement for Hakan Çalhanoğlu who signed for Inter Milan.
As a result, an ideal scenario would be for Barcelona to send Coutinho to Milan in exchange for Romagnoli.
Milan would avoid losing the defender on a free and Barça would offload Coutinho, who has been a flop since joining from Liverpool, and get his wages off the books.
A deal is easier said than done. Barcelona are coming off having broken negotiations with Atletico Madrid on another swap deal that would have seen Antoine Griezmann going to his former club with Saúl Ñíguez heading the other way. The roadblock in those discussions had to do with valuation.
Barcelona valued Griezmann higher than Saúl and therefore wanted a transfer fee as well.
That may not be a problem in this scenario as Coutinho is clearly no longer wanted and getting rid of his wages is enough.
Still, there is plenty that needs to happen such as Barcelona getting rid of one or two of their center-backs in order to make room for Romagnoli. Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti are the two the club would like to get rid of but like many of their players, their wages are scaring off potential suitors.
Coutinho’s future is away from the Camp Nou and the club are prepared to take a significant loss. They are well aware they are unlikely to get anywhere close to the fee they paid for him when they signed him from Liverpool.
