Liverpool spent all of last summer in a battle to hold on to their talismanic Brazilian magician Coutinho when Barca came calling.
Come September 1, it seemed as though the Reds had managed to keep Coutinho for this season at least, but last night saw the strongest indication yet that the number 10’s Liverpool career could be over.
In a very strange development, the official Nike website updated its Barcelona merchandise page to include the message “Philippe Coutinho is ready to light up Camp Nou. Get your 2017/2018 FC Barcelona kit with the Magician’s name on it. Act fast — free personalisation only available until 6 January.”
There was also a button that said “Shop Coutinho’s look,” although the link took users to a broken page.
The text was almost immediately removed from the site, but the damage had been done and odds have been slashed on Coutinho joining the La Liga league leaders in the January transfer window.
Nike are offering Coutinho shirts on their websites. Imagine the audacity from Barcelona. Laughing stock of world football if we don't at least to attempt to do something about this. pic.twitter.com/u7vmnUTlID
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) December 31, 2017
Since the apparent cock-up, none of Liverpool, Barcelona or Nike have addressed the situation — which is a strange one even if Coutinho is joining Barcelona.
One thing is for certain though, we can’t imagine Liverpool fans much wanting to use the Nike website any time in the near future…
