It doesn’t take a genius to work out why Philippe Coutinho didn’t join Barcelona, but it seems the Brazilian’s relatives are still puzzled by the situation.
The Liverpool playmaker attempted to force through his dream move to the Catalan giants this summer, but saw his formal transfer request have little impact.
Barcelona reportedly failed with three bids of £72million, £90million and £118million for the 25-year-old, with Reds owners Fenway Sports Group standing by an insistence he would not be sold under any circumstances.
One of Coutinho’s relatives has, supposedly, spoken out on the matter to the Spanish press, telling Sport: “We do not know how to say it. We still do not understand why Liverpool do not want to sell,” as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
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Given how unreliable the Spanish media proved to be during the long-running saga, it’s worth taking the latest quotes with the increasingly familiar pinch of salt.
In simple terms, Liverpool were never going to sell Coutinho, for any price, at any point during the recent transfer window.
Barcelona went as far as trying to spin their failure by suggesting the Reds had set an asking-price of £185million on Friday’s Spanish deadline day, only for the La Liga club to turn down the opportunity. Unsurprisingly, that turned out to be nonsense.