Manchester City turned down Coutinho

According to Marca, Manchester City turned down the chance to sign Philippe Coutinho this summer.

Having spent five years with Liverpool and eventually become their arguably best player, the Brazilian joined Barcelona for €160 million. That move  remains to this day the third most expensive transfer ever, behind Paris Saint-Germain’s acquisitions of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. However, things didn’t work out as well as he would have hoped and in the 18 months he spent at Camp Nou, he failed to nail down a starting spot.

He has now been sent to Bayern Munich on loan, with the German champions having the option to make the deal permanent next summer for €120 million, but it apparently could have been different. As Barcelona worked hard to offload the attacking midfielder, they offered his services to a variety of clubs, one of which was Manchester City.

However, Pep Guardiola, who was in charge at both Barcelona and Bayern Munich prior to his appointment as the City boss, turned the offer down.