Chelsea have been warned that signing Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho could lead to Christian Pulisic leaving Stamford Bridge.
Coutinho has struggled to settle at the Spanish giants since his £142m move from Liverpool in January 2018 and was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich this season.
And despite the Brazilian's impressive displays and tally of eight goals and six assists in the Bundesliga, Bayern have opted not to activate a clause to buy Coutinho at the end of his loan spell.
With Barcelona reportedly unmoved in their stance to sell the 27-year-old, a move to the Premier League seems most likely after Coutinho's agent said earlier this month that his client "would love" to return to England.
Chelsea currently lead the race for the playmaker, though ESPN pundit Don Hutchinson believes signing Coutinho would come with the risk of losing Pulisic.
The American moved to west London only last summer in a £58m transfer and has four years remaining on his contract, but he plays either in attacking midfield or on the wing - just as Coutinho does.
Therefore, buying Coutinho would severely limit the minutes and hamper the development of 21-year-old Pulisic, who has scored six goals and provided six assists this season.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is understood to be keen to revitalise Coutinho's career and Barcelona are prepared to let the former Liverpool star go for far less than the fee they paid two years ago.
The rumoured £80m price tag is higher than what the Blues are willing to pay, but the Catalan club are desperate to raise funds for a summer splurge on Neymar and Lautaro Martinez.
Neymar left Camp Nou for Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 in a £198m deal and Inter Milan star Martinez has a £98m release clause in his contract, so Barcelona's priority targets will cost some hundreds of millions of pounds to land.
AlhajiFolawemi
261
This comment isn’t about Yes sign Coutinho or No, don’t sign him. Someone said, an ordinary person like we all, Pulisic progress and development will plummet if signed Coutinho, fact that he said it doesn’t mean he has brain that us or that he’s right. The match does not even relate with each other. Why would a sane person ever imagine Coutinho coming to Chelsea and play as a winger? No, it’s a position where Barca forced him him to play and turned out a disaster which degraded him and his career. Bayern played him in CM and AM this season, judging with his stats, he hasn’t done so bad whilst, I can’t remember a season where Coutinho have scored a lot of goals(being at his best in Liverpool). He has played well so far in Bayern but not at his best form but he has had about 2-3 MOTM performances this season regardless. Hence, Coutinho coming to Chelsea or not has nothing to do with Pulisic and or Odoi. It has to do with Mount, however, not negatively as you would have thought of, it would only bring the best out of Mount and Loftus Cheek if he got signed. What makes Man city special is there depths in squad and what makes Ancelotti and Mourinho team special was also depth in squad. You look at your first 11 and still able turn to the bench and line up another strong 11 that can compete. That makes a team. I’m not asking Coutinho to be signed with that I just said, but disregarding people’s wrong claims that signing one player will bring others to shambles, perhaps, a player that can improve others. Oh! So soon you all forget the striking option of Dider Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, fast and rising Daniel Sturridge, and adding to them was newly welcome £50m Fernando Torres? Competition right? Drogba was our UCL hero right? You all forget the impact of Torres in those two finals? Barca could have found a goal more, maybe if Torres didn’t equalize. Bayern could have won maybe if Torres didn’t come in and push Bayern on their backfeet who were inside Chelsea’s Ken yard for 85 minutes. Torres forced Chelsea’s first corner of the day think which in return was Drogba goal. Had Torres not come in to force that corner, maybe we wouldn’t have our UCL. (Sorry guys, I’m not actually changing the topic, I am only talking about depth in squad, having qualities above quantities). A midfield or Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Deco there was these two players I can’t remember in that midfield. All these players deserves to start every match, didn’t they? “Having good players would only bring the best out of another and not stopping another from reaching a greater height”. This is my opinion
Kakzbi
145
Chelsea is slowly and surely becoming the next Arsenal... You're afraid to buy established players just because you want to develop kids... that's exactly what Arsenal started doing after the invincibles era and for more than 14 years they've been fighting for the 4th spot... either you are good or no for the highest level... if you want to develop go to the u23 team... when Coutinho comes if he's the best let him play, if pulicic is better he'll play... as simple as that
Andy_Mac
107
Exactly why we shouldn't sign him. I don't see where we'll play Coutinho. Surely not in central midfield. We've got a wealth of options in Mount, Loftus-Cheek, Kanté, Gilmour, Kovačić, Barkley and currently Jorginho. Even Ziyech can play there if required. Then we have other promising academy prospects like Anjorin. So it's prudent not to make these kinds of transfers. I don't want Coutinho on the wing because it's important to let Hudson-Odoi and Pulisic develop.