L’Équipe report that Philippe Coutinho “will return to the Premier League” this summer.
Coutinho should join Premier League side Arsenal on loan from Barcelona. More follows.
RMC Sport correspondent Julien Laurens asserts that these claims are false.
Investigative journalist Romain Molina has provided some background on where an Arsenal & Philippe Coutinho deal might be coming from: First of all, he is unsurprised by the fact that the Brazilian attacking midfielder’s name is being banded around in the media, as his agent is Kia Joorabchian, who has a record of doing so.
He also indicates that Joorabchian was responsible for Edu’s arrival as Sporting Director of Arsenal and warns that this decision-making on the part of the Gunners could see the agent wield a lot more power at the North London club in terms of placing players there even if the coach doesn’t want them or it does not help the squad’s balance.
Joorbachian has a history of installing Sporting Directors and then essentially turning them into puppets, with Molina citing QPR, Reading & Corinthians as instances where this occurred before. Often, the individuals installed would need Joorbachian’s sign-off on transfers. Molina goes on to add that he has no information on whether or not Coutinho to Arsenal will happen and rightly indicates that agents often disseminate information into the media that is not entirely true, especially at the end of the window.
