Lionel Messi has told Barcelona hierarchy to put further effort in their bid to land Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho, according to the Daily Mail.
Barcelona have been trying to sign a new attacking midfielder in recent times and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutiho has been their top target since the summer transfer window.
However, the Catalan giants failed to land the Brazilian during the summer and look unlikely to sign him in January as well due to the fact that Liverpool are not keen on selling.
This has resultedin the Catalan giants looking elsewhere and Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil has been mentioned as a target across many sources.
Many believe that Barcelona are going to make a January bid for the German international, who will be out of contract at the end of this season and hence be able to land the 29-year-old from Arsenal for a discounted fee.
However, Barca star Lionel Messi is apparently unhappy with his club’s decision to switch their targets from Coutinho to Arsenal and has urged the recruitment team to make further effort to sign the Brazilian international instead.
Messi is believed to prefer the signature of Coutinho in June rather than Ozil in the January transfer window as he believed the South American to be a much better fit for Barcelona than the German.
