Fabrizio Romano revealed this week to the Liverpool Echo that Tottenham and Arsenal were both offered the chance to sign Philippe Coutinho by his agent this summer.
The Brazilian had spent the season on loan at Bayern Munich, winning the Champions League during his time there, before returning to Barcelona.
Romano claimed that Arsenal came closest to signing the former Liverpool man and were actually ‘really close’ to getting it done.
However, apparently, the signing of Ronald Koeman as the new Barca manager put an end to the deal as he pushed to keep Coutinho at the club.
The Telegraph reported in June that Barcelona were so desperate to get Coutinho off their books that they were prepared to pay half of his wages in an exit deal.
Despite this, Koeman doubted that the Catalan giants would be able to sign anyone better in the summer window.
Romano said: “Before, Barca were considering to sell Philippe Coutinho and he was on the list to sell, so his agents were working to offer him to Tottenham, to Arsenal.
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“Arsenal were really close and at the start of August, they were ready. But once Koeman arrived, he understood it was difficult to sign other players, for example, Memphis Depay.”
Judging by Romano’s comments, it seems as if Arsenal were the ones holding a serious interest in the player and that Spurs were merely offered him.
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