Manchester City were offered Barca player Philippe Coutinho in the recently shut transfer window. The reported fee for this deal was €120 million.
Manchester City's Spanish manager Pep Guardiola gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on August 31, 2019. (Photo by Lindsey Parnaby / AFP)
If reports are to be believed then Manchester City and their boss Pep Guardiola might have had an important role to play in failed Neymar transfer to Barcelona from his Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
According to a report carried by Don Balon, a Spanish media outlet, Manchester City were offered Barca player Philippe Coutinho in the recently shut transfer window. The reported fee for this deal was €120 million. In the meantime, Manchester City were looking for an apt replacement was for Leroy Sane who was all set to join Bayern Munich.
Although Coutinho could have been a decent bid to replace Sane, Guardiola showed no interest in that offer and eventually, Coutinho was loaned to Bayern Munich since he did not receive interest from any club.
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This was a massive blow to Barcelona who had hoped that Manchester City would buy Coutinho from them. They had planned to use the transfer amount of € 120million to fund Neymar’s move back to transfer.
However, Manchester’s City refusal to buy Coutinho forced Coutinho to remain in Paris.
The report by Don Balon adds that Pep Guardiola had in fact predicted Barcelona’s plans to rope in Neymar with the money they would receive for Brazilian Coutinho.
Pep analysed that if they add Neymar to their team, Barca would become invincible and thus he decided against it.
Given that, Manchester City and Barcelona are expected to be up against each other in the Champions League, the move could possibly be a masterstroke. This is yet another classic example of the genius that Pep Guardiola is.
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