Forget the big money transfers of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United or Alexandre Lacazette to Arsenal or even Alvaro Morata to Chelsea, the most sensational coup of the summer transfer window could possibly be taking place this week.
To be precise, the biggest signing in the history of football is reportedly taking place in just a few days when Neymar moves from Barcelona to PSG for an amount close to £200million. Unbelievable is one word to define it!
Like it or not, FC Barcelona have to zero in on a replacement as early as possible and it seems their target is locked on Liverpool star forward Philippe Coutinho. As per latest reports, Barcelona are ready to shell around £89m to snap up the Liverpool superstar. That kind of signifies that Coutinho is set to earn around £150,000 a week at Camp Nou.
This comes with a warning, however. The Catalan giants have categorically told Coutinho that they would turn their attention elsewhere if Liverpool still refuse to sell him. The Premier League giants earlier rejected a bid worth £72million from Barca for Coutinho.
Ousmane Dembele of Borussia Dortmund could be the next big target.
Liverpool FC in a tricky situation
Coutinho remains the primary target of Barcelona in the event Neymar bids them adieu. Once that happens, the Catalan giants will definitely waste no time in bidding bid for Coutinho and possibly even succeeding to land him, leaving Liverpool in a very tragic situation.
Of course, they got attackers like Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana and new boy Mohamed Salah, fact remains the departure of Coutinho could leave Liverpool with a huge void.
Jurgen Klopp has been targeting RB Leipzig star Naby Keita for long, and did even hope to shell as much as £70million for the Guinea international, but it seems the Reds have accepted defeat thanks to the German club's firm stance of not accepting any offer for their star midfielder, from any football club in the world.
Having no option now but to look past Keita, Klopp has possibly turned his attention to Christian Pulisic, an 18-year-old Croatian-American attacking midfielder, currently playing for Borussia Dortmund.
Can the teenager replace a star Coutinho? Klopp feels Pulisic can. As a matter of fact, Liverpool could be ready to bid more than £30million for the US Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year 2016 if the big money move of Coutinho to Barcelona does happen.
Pulisic's career stats - Borussia Dortmund senior team (as on July 31)
- Matches: 55
- Goals: 7
- Assists: 13
Author's take
None of these could actually happen if Neymar does indeed decide to stay on with Barcelona, after all!
