Tottenham and four other clubs in race to sign Brazilian playmaker

According to Sky Sport, five teams, including Tottenham, are competing to sign Barcelona playmaker Philippe Coutinho, who is expecting to make an imminent return to the Premier League. 

Unsurprisingly there is no shortage of potential suitors for Coutinho, who is almost certainly on his way out of Barcelona. And if Sky Sports is right, he’ll be confirmed at a Premier League team in the coming days.

Liverpool, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Everton are interested in luring the former Reds playmaker back to the top flight. Coutinho cost Barcelona £145 million in 2018 and now, just three years later, is said to be worthy a fraction of that, a measly £15 million. Suffice to say, the Barcelona experiment failed miserably.

But that’s not to say the diminutive 29-year-old has lost the ability to be the difference maker, an impact player who can score a decisive goal or pick out the critical penetrative through ball. He is still chockfull of raw talent and only needs a moment to change the complexion of a match.

However, let’s not kid ourselves. Of the five potential suitors, Tottenham is one of the least likely to land the Brazilian. For various reasons, including his prohibitive wages, the odds are stacked against Spurs.

There is a distinct possibility that Coutinho will move on a free transfer. Barcelona is cash strapped, ensnared in a woeful financial position. They need urgently to dump Coutinho’s astronomical £370,000-a-week wage salary.

But even if Spurs are able to get the Brazilian without a spending a dime, who’s going to dole out £370,000 a week to pay his inflated salary? Unlike the loan deal that saw Bale return to north London, Barcelona isn’t as amenable to helping foot half the weekly bill.

A free transfer would potentially free up enough cash for Tottenham to fleetingly afford his weekly wages, but is it worth forking out almost double what Harry Kane makes to land a player whose career has nosedived faster than a bald eagle in the market for fresh fish?

And if Coutinho was unable to advance his career in the idyllic environment Barcelona provided, will he be able to once again rise to the top of the world’s most competitive league during a miserable, cold, rainy winter?

While unknowns are inevitable with any transfer, this particular one poses too many for a tightwad chairman renowned for his penchant of mitigating risk.