Barcelona ready to admit defeat in pursuit for Philippe Coutinho as club official says deal for Liverpool ace will be ‘very difficult’
After rejecting two bids from the Catalan giants, the Reds are adamant that the Brazilian will be staying at Anfield this season
BARCELONA'S sporting director Robert Fernandez has admitted that the La Liga side are facing an uphill battle to sign Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho this summer.
The Brazilian midfielder does not have a release clause, which is making the transfer difficult to seal for the Spanish giants.
Coutinho handed in a transfer request last week, but Reds boss Jurgen Klopp remains adamant that the Brazilian is staying at Anfield.
Liverpool have already turned down two bids of £72million and £90million from the La Liga outfit for their midfield ace.
However, Barcelona are reportedly set to test Liverpool's resolve by launching a huge £118million offer for Coutinho.
"Not just Barca, but any team looking for top quality players are getting involved in a very difficult situation in this market," Fernandez said.
"Why? Because the market is where clubs like us want to sign top quality players. There's no buy-out clause so that makes things trickier.
"Yes, we are negotiating with clubs to make several signings, but in all awareness of the difficulty. We need to work our way into a favourable situation and hopefully close these deals as quickly as possible."
Barcelona completed the signing of Paulinho earlier this week, but the Catalans are keen to also sign Borussia Dortmund's Ousmane Dembele.
"With respect to Liverpool and Dortmund, when there are negotiations you need time, you need to work things into a favourable situation for players and ourselves," Fernandez added.
"We still have days ahead of us, would like to move things faster, but do admit they're two players we would like here. But it's clubs who will have the final say on if we achieve those two transfers."
Following Neymar's £198million move to Paris Saint-Germain, Barca boss Ernesto Valverde is keen to bolster his side ahead of the new term.
Barce coach Pep Segura recently revealed that he "expects" Barcelona to sing Coutinho this summer.
But Klopp hit back shortly after by claiming that he does not who the former Anfield academy director was and that there was "no news."
