Philippe Coutinho transfer from Liverpool close to being completed, confirms Barcelona

Liverpool have so far resisted all offers from Barcelona for their player Philippe Coutinho, but the Spanish club remain confident a deal can be done with Barca's general manager confirming a transfer is imminent.

After seeing two bids rejected, one which would have seen him become the second most expensive player of all-time, if all the add-ons were tagged on as well, Coutinho decided to hand in a transfer request at Liverpool, which was immediately turned down by the club.

However, as the transfer storm rages on, Coutinho has not played for Liverpool since the start of the season, with the Brazilian playmaker missing the Reds' Premier League opener against Watford and the Champions League qualifier against Hoffenheim.

A back injury has been cited as the reason for those absences, but you do wonder if there is more to that story.

Clearly, with his head turned, Coutinho is not exactly in the greatest of positions to play for Liverpool, and Barcelona remain confident of getting the deal over the line, with the club also hopeful Ousmane Dembele will switch from Borussia Dortmund, who like Liverpool have also rejected all offers, to the Camp Nou.

"Coutinho and Dembele are both close," Barcelona general manager Pep Segura was quoted as saying by the Metro.

"We are hopeful that they will end up wearing the Barca shirt. Until deals are closed I can't say anything.

"We know we have to help the team and reinforce it and that's what we're doing."

The need to bolster the Barcelona squad is obvious after the former European and La Liga champions were embarrassed by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. Zinedine Zidane's side beat Barcelona 2-0 in the second leg on Wednesday to beat their rivals 5-1 on aggregate.

So, there is desperation and that is something both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund will look to take advantage of, although doubts remain over whether the club from the English Premier League will sanction a move.

As far as a former Liverpool player is concerned, a Coutinho sale remains unlikely.

"Liverpool won't sell him," Craig Bellamy told Sky Sports. "What I've found out with people inside Liverpool, they won't sell him.

"It's not going to happen. (Manager Jurgen) Klopp would do the business, but the owners won't get involved.

"I would urge the Liverpool owners to stand firm, refuse to sell Coutinho to Barcelona for any price and try and ride out the storm until the transfer window shuts."