According to Sport, Barcelona will go after OGC Nice’s playmaker Jean-Michel Seri should they fail to land Philippe Coutinho.
This is both good and bad news for Liverpool, depending on what happens with their hard stance on the Brazilian at the end of the transfer window.
Seri is also the Reds plan B should Coutinho leave, and that means both players’ fates are somewhat intertwined.
Liverpool rejected a 3rd bid worth £118million from Barcelona for their bag-of-tricks star on Friday, and it’s believed that may not be the Catalan’s final bid.
Coutinho is currently on the sideline due to a back injury, but that hasn’t stopped Liverpool from getting 4 points out of a possible 6 in the new Premier League season.
By no means does this imply that they wouldn’t sorely miss the 25-year-old midfielder if he forces an exit, but the Anfield outfit won’t fall apart in his absence either.
It appears they would either have him or the Nice star by the time the window shuts, and anyone of the duo can definitely do a good job for manager Jurgen Klopp, even though the latter is yet to prove himself in a league as tough as the topflight.
Coutinho or Seri, Liverpool’s immediate midfield future as per having one of the two depends on Barcelona. Not exactly the worst of dilemmas for the Reds, and everyone just has to wait it out until September 1.