F.C Barcelona are considering a swap deal with Chelsea which involves Philippe Coutinho and N’Golo Kante. However, some Spanish media reports claim that Coutinho might consider joining the Blues in the upcoming transfer season.
N’Golo Kante, the FIFA World Cup 2018 winner, is one of the best central midfielders in the world. He is a complete box-to-box midfielder with great stamina, defending skills and attacking prowess as well.
Kante plays an important role in the Chelsea’s midfield. But this season, Kante has missed out 20 games of total Chelsea’s 42 games played as he suffered multiple injuries to his hamstring, knee and ankle. Due to lack of his presence, a good partnership got developed between Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, which is showing some good results for the club in the midfield area.
Both the Spanish giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona are very much interested in swooping up 29-year-old French international. Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane, also a French international, has been an admirer of Kante from a long time. But he is not willing to pay £70-80 million for the midfielder.
This proves to be a great opportunity for Barca to negotiate a swap deal with Chelsea by offering Philippe Coutinho as a replacement. The Brazilian international is currently on a season long loan with the German giants, F.C Bayern Munich. The rumors suggest that he might be offered either on loan or as a swap deal involving Kante for £75 million permanent deal to the Blues.
Coutinho had very less impact while playing for Barcelona, before he was shipped off to Bayern on a season long loan, where he scored nine goals in 32 games. The former Liverpool man rose to prominence during his five incredible seasons at Anfield but has failed to reproduce those performances in Spain and Germany. He showed considerable improvement after the switch from the Catalans and produced some great moments in Bayern Munich.
The Coutinho’s transfer might help Chelsea in improving their experience and creativity in the midfield. This may provide a solution to Frank Lampard’s midfield crisis and drastically enhance the Chelsea’s attacking options in the future European tournaments.
