Barcelona turn attentions away from Coutinho, accepting defeat

Barcelona have come to terms with the fact that Philippe Coutinho is not for sale and are now switching their attentions elsewhere in a bid to strengthen their attack, The Mirror reports.

The Catalan club had made a third bid amounting to around £118m late last week, setting Liverpool a deadline of Sunday evening to accept the deal.

The Reds have refused to do so, committing to the stance that the Brazilian is not for sale despite the fact that he had handed in a transfer request in a bid to force a move to the Spanish giants through.

Though they were in no mood to negotiate, Liverpool were not at all keen on the structure of the deal put forward, which would have seen the La Liga outfit spread the cost over four years, with a large chunk made up of performance based add ons to boot.

Barca have therefore accepted defeat as they cannot risk wasting more time to bring in reinforcements and lose further ground on rivals Real Madrid.

A more natural replacement for the departed Neymar is now at the top of their priorities, with Borussia Dortmund winger Ousmane Dembele known to be their number one target.

Coutinho had been identified as a player capable of playing from the left but also from a midfield three when needed having played in both positions under Klopp.

The 25-year-old, who is yet to feature this season due to a back injury, enjoyed his most productive campaign to date last season, with a direct hand in 20 league goals (13 goals, 7 assists).