The briefing I had last week was that Coutinho’s preference would be to go to Chelsea rather than Paris St-Germain
Duncan Castles
Castles also claims United are in for Coutinho, however, the Red Devils are more hopeful of landing his Barcelona team-mate Ivan Rakitic.
He said on the Transfer Window podcast: “Philippe Coutinho, also interest from Manchester United. Not as intense as the pursuit of Rakitic.
“Definite interest from Paris St-Germain, who he’s been offered to.
“Coutinho’s obviously represented by a couple of agents who have very strong links to Chelsea, have done a huge number of deals to that club.
Philippe Coutinho is keen to join Chelsea (Image: GETTY)
Man Utd would be a good fit for Coutinho says Laurens
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“The briefing I had last week was that Coutinho’s preference would be to go to Chelsea rather than Paris St-Germain.
“But of course, dependent on the transfer-window ban being lifted, which it looks almost certain not to happen.
“The idea that Abramovich spends that amount of money on one player, in terms of salary and transfer fee, at a time when he’s trying to sell the club, strikes me as a little strange.
“So I expect that briefing comes more from the desire of the agents to bring Chelsea into the equation than it does of an actual defined and fixed preference on Coutinho’s part.”
A lot has been made of Coutinho’s move to Barcelona, with former Reds ace Neil Mellor claiming Liverpool don’t miss the Brazilian.