According to The Transfer Window podcast), Everton have been ‘offered’ the chance to sign Philippe Coutinho on loan, and the Daily Mail say the Toffees may have to battle Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United to procure his signature.
Barcelona have ‘offered’ to pay 33% of the Brazilian international’s wages (£200k-per-week), so Everton might be more open to agreeing a deal. The Daily Mail add that Coutinho’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, is friends with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, so the Blues might lead the race to bring him to Goodison Park.
Everton aren’t short of options in attacking-midfield with Gylfi Sigurdsson, Anthony Gordon and Beni Baningime at their disposal, but Sigurdsson could be sold, Gordon is only just breaking into the first-team and Baningime has been on the periphery since 2018.
The Toffees have been linked with Cengiz Under, Wilfried Zaha, Memphis Depay, Jose Callejon, Rafa Silva, Jack Grealish, Everton Cebolinha Soares and Jesse Lingard, but Coutinho would be the pick of the bunch.
He scored 54 goals and made 45 assists in 201 games for Liverpool (2013 – 2018), scored 21 goals and made 11 assists in 76 games for Barcelona (2018 – present) and scored nine goals and made eight assists in 32 games for Bayern Munich (2019 – 2020).
Coutinho would improve Everton’s squad, but it remains to be seen if the Blues can beat out all the interest.