If you were planning to go to your best mate’s birthday party, but then you got an invite to Lionel Messi’s birthday party on the same night, what would you do?
Obviously
in an ideal world you wouldn’t want to let down your best mate, but
could you really say no to Messi? It’s Messi! His birthday party is
blatantly going to be better than your mate’s.
Most
of us will never face this kind of dilemma, but one man who apparently
has is Philippe Coutinho. And surprise, surprise – he chose Messi.
In
this instance, the best mate in question is Neymar – Coutinho’s special
Brazilian chum who has reportedly been trying to persuade the Liverpool
playmaker to join him at Paris Saint-Germain since he moved there in
the summer.
But according to the Express, Coutinho has said no to his friend because he wants to go to Messi’s birthday party instead.
It’s not only
about the birthday party. Coutinho has “instructed his agents to rebuff
the advances of PSG” because he has his heart set on a move to
Barcelona, with Messi the “main factor” in his decision.
But
it’s pretty much a given that, once Coutinho is settled in at the Nou
Camp, he will be invited to Messi’s birthday parties on an annual basis.
Possibly not the intimate family ones, but at the very least drinks on
La Rambla (provided it hasn’t been turned into a civil war zone by
then).
As
for the possibility of Coutinho staying at Liverpool, that is evidently
so unlikely that the Express does not even deem it worthy of
discussion.
Man Utd to miss out on Griezmann and Bale
Coutinho may therefore be concerned by reports that Barcelona are turning their attentions to Antoine Griezmann instead. Mundo Deportivo
says Barca coach Ernesto Valverde is preparing an £89m summer move to
snatch the French forward from the grasp of Manchester United.
And United apparently won’t be turning to Gareth Bale as an alternative. The Mirror says Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho has personally called Real Madrid to inform them he “doesn’t want” the Welshman.
Seems
a bit unnecessary really. That’s like Zinedine Zidane calling West Ham
to tell them he doesn’t want Mark Noble. Why phone up then??
The Mirror also
makes the rather dramatic headline claim that Mesut Ozil’s hopes of a
January move to United are “in tatters”, only to clarify further down
the article that he still has every chance of moving to Old Trafford in
the summer. Clickbait nonsense.
Elsewhere,
Newcastle’s prospective new owners could target English trio Ross
Barkley, Luke Shaw and Andy Carroll if they buy they club (Star), Real Madrid have drawn up a three-man shortlist of promising youngsters to replace Cristiano Ronaldo (Mirror) and Antonio Conte has flown into a potty-mouthed rage about a media “plot” to destabilise him (Guardian). A Chelsea manager talking about conspiracies against his team? That never ends well.
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