Barcelona do not intend to immortalize shirt number 10 on Lionel Messi. The attacker who left for Paris Saint-Germain walked around for years with the most romantic shirt number, but sees it possibly being worn by someone else next season. Mundo Deportivo know on Wednesday to report that Barcelona has offered the number to Philippe Coutinho.
Part of the Barcelona dressing room previously thought it was a good idea that Sergio Aguero would take over Messi’s number 10 shirt, knew Cadena SER to report recently. The 33-year-old Argentine attacker, who was taken over from Manchester City on a free transfer earlier this summer, was initially assigned jersey number 19. Aguero is a good friend of Messi and came to Barcelona to play with him in the club. Part of the dressing room would like to see Aguero designated as Messi’s heir, but those reports are contradicted by Mundo Deportivo.
Despite the record amount of 135 million euros, Coutinho has not yet lived up to the high expectations in the Camo Nou. The Brazilian is constantly plagued by serious injuries and has been in the rags since December last year with a serious knee injury. The midfielder therefore did not play on behalf of coach Ronald Koeman’s team this calendar year. The last time Coutinho played for Barcelona was on December 29 in the home game against Eibar (1-1).
Coutinho has long been seen as a target to provide Barcelona with the necessary pennies, but no longer appears to be on the list to be sold. According to various Spanish media, the 29-year-old Brazilian would have to leave to reduce salary costs at Barça, but the club seems to have changed its mind. Coutinho is about to make his comeback after eight months of injury and Koeman considers him a full member of the selection. Coutinho, who came over from Liverpool for 135 million euros in January 2018, is still on a two-year contract and can only leave with an exceptional offer.
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