Coutinho Chelsea’s Hazard replacement if they avoid ban

According to David Maddock of the Mirror, Eden Hazard saying that he had informed Chelsea of his decision on his future strongly indicates that the Belgian wants to leave Stamford Bridge. The London club already have Christian Pulisic arriving soon, but the player they will look to sign as the replacement for their star forward – should they win their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports and have the imposed two-window transfer ban overturned – is Philippe Coutinho.

The Brazilian playmaker left Liverpool to join Barcelona in January last year for £142 million, but despite the huge fee that has made him the third most expensive player in history, he has thoroughly failed to impress at the Camp Nou. It is therefore believed he would be available on the market for much less than that with Barcelona ready to cut their losses.

Manchester United were also linked with Coutinho but it remains questionable whether he would agree a move to Old Trafford having spent five years at Anfield, quite apart from the fact that United’s focus at the moment is on improving their defence.