Coutinho was part of bumper Real Madrid deal that never happened

Bengaluru, April 3: Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho was at the centre of a swap deal between Liverpool and Real Madrid, a book claims. The move, however, fell through with Madrid not keen on signing the 25-year-old, who was instead shipped off to FC Barcelona.

Well before his dream move to Barcelona this January, ex-Liverpool man Coutinho was on verge of being offloaded to Barcelona’s fierce rivals, Real Madrid, in the previous summer. According to reports, Liverpool had plotted a bumper deal of £61million along with services of Philippe Coutinho in a cash-plus-swap deal for Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale.

'Can't be compared to Liverpool's Mo Salah'

In the recently released book, 'PSG: Revelations of a Revolution’, which mainly looks at Neymar’s world-record £198million transfer from Barcelona to French giants Paris Saint-Germain, the author has mentioned the inner workings of the transfer involving Coutinho, Neymar’s fellow countryman. The book allegedly reveals that there were conversations between Neymar’s agent Pini Zahivi, who is a friend of Bale’s representative Jonathan Barnett. The book says Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp has always been a huge admirer of Gareth Bale and desperately wanted to land the Welsh wizard at Anfield.

Freekicks should be Messi's job, but if another player has to take them, it should be Coutinho.

Currently, Suárez has taken 12 freekicks this season; 6 went into the wall, 4 weren't on target, and only 2 made the goalkeeper work. [md] pic.twitter.com/XAD5ADX0up

— Barca Centre (@barcacentre) April 3, 2018

Real Madrid, however, were looking to sign either Kylian Mbappe or Eden Hazard in the event of letting off Gareth Bale. Ove the transfer window, Real Madrid failed to secure the signatures of either players and Bale stayed back at the Santiago Bernabeu for another season. The book, published by Amphora, reads:

"Contrary to Barcelona, the Brazilian [Coutinho] was not a major target at Real Madrid.

"Florentino Perez always thought of Mbappe in reality, as PSG did, so a potential transfer of Bale to Paris could have satisfied all parties, in a three-way game of pool had the Neymar deal fallen through."

📸 | Coutinho celebrating Aine's 25th birthday. pic.twitter.com/klJDRlUXxs

— Barca Centre (@barcacentre) April 2, 2018

With Madrid openly expressing their will to sign a new Galactico, Bale knew it was becoming more and more tough for him to secure a place in Madrid’s starting XI. His injury-prone nature didn’t work in his favour either, with Zidane opting Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez or Isco to replace him. So, a move back to the Premier League was indeed a viable option for Gareth Bale with interests from Manchester United, Chelsea and former club Tottenham Hotspur all in place.

Gareth Bale: all-time record scorer for Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 ... and a #UCL winner again with Madrid this season? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/MKJq5gR7dP

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 25, 2018

None of this, however, saw the light of day and Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona in a club-record £142million move.