Philippe Coutinho is still set to leave Barcelona this month, but he won’t be returning to the Premier League.
That’s according to Spanish publication Sport , who claim that the former Liverpool man is down to his last two transfer options in the wake of a failure to complete a switch back to England.
Manchester United , Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and, tenuously, Liverpool have all been linked with a move for the Brazilian this summer, but none of them will be completing a switch to bring him back to the English top-flight before the Premier League transfer window closes at 5pm GMT on Thursday.
But the window in Europe remains open for a few weeks yet, with clubs in Italy still able to make moves until August 18 and sides in Germany able to sign players up until September 2.
And those two destinations are particularly prevalent for the playmaker, who is said to be down to Bayern Munich and Juventus as his last two choices for making a move this summer.
Barca remain determined to sign their former star Neymar this summer, and are prepared to lose Coutinho – who they signed from Liverpool for £142million in January 2018 – in order to make that move happen.
The 27-year-old have been routinely criticised for his displays since joining the Catalan giants, but he still hopes to prove himself at the Nou Camp having pushed so hard for his “dream” move when he left Anfield.
A switch back to England was thought to be most likely with Spurs, only for the Londoners to change the terms of the deal on offer late on.
He is now likely to head to either Serie A or the Bundesliga in search of more regular game-time.