Barcelona to withdraw Philippe Coutinho interest

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Bengaluru, August 21: Philippe Coutinho is right now the blue-eyed boy of the transfer market and the saga keeps getting more and more entertaining with time. The Brazilian has been a subject of interest of Catalan giants Barcelona throughout the summer since the departure of Neymar to PSG but Liverpool have managed to retain their priced asset despite a series of offers from Barcelona.

However, Barcelona's bizarre deadline for Philippe Coutinho has passed by. The La Liga club had told Liverpool they had until 7 PM on Sunday (August 20) in the UK to respond to the Catalan club's interest.

The deadline passed by without the Anfield hierarchy responding to the offer they had already rejected.

Renowned Spanish football expert Guillem Balague revealed on Sky Sports: "We reported on Friday that Liverpool had rejected the third offer from Barcelona and an email was sent back [to Liverpool] from Barcelona saying, 'okay, you rejected that - if you don't accept it I must tell you that there is a deadline of today, Sunday - 7pm. Otherwise we withdraw the offer'.

"I think Liverpool have got no intention of answering that email from Barcelona, which in theory means that's the end of that.

"That's the end of the story of Coutinho moving to Barcelona. You never know in football of course but if Barcelona are true to their word they will withdraw the offer tonight because Liverpool have got no intention of selling."

We have to wait and see what awaits Coutinho in the remainder of the transfer window. Will Barcelona come back with an improved offer or will the Brazilian accept the fact that his dream move is not happening for now.

At the moment, Coutinho is missing with a back problem which many think the injury is faked, so that he does not become cup-tied in the Champions League.