Chelsea: Barca prez does everyone a favour by quashing Coutinho rumours

Barcelona’s president slammed the door on the various Philippe Coutinho transfer rumours last week, being sure to mention the Brazilian’s mid-nine figure release clause. Still, Chelsea keep cropping up in lame corners of the rumour mill.

Neither the threat of a transfer ban nor the explicit statement of a club president can stop the rumour mill from doing what it is. Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said Barcelona have no intention of selling Philippe Coutinho this summer, reminding suitors like Chelsea and Manchester United of Coutinho’s £355 million release clause. Calcio Mercato must not have received the memo.

The Italian click merchants drummed up the old rumour that Chelsea may want Coutinho to replace Eden Hazard if / when Hazard departs for Real Madrid. So what if Coutinho’s release clause is over three times what Chelsea will receive for Hazard, Bartomeu has no interest in selling and the Blues may not be able to buy anyone anyway? It ain’t silly season for being sensical.

Bartomeu did everyone a favour with his statements. Given Chelsea’s late tendency to let the loudest, splashiest, emptiest sentiment drive decisions, this rumour cannot be allowed to gain traction.

Coutinho’s release clause should be enough to keep the Blues far away. His release clause is four times the club’s transfer record, and Coutinho is neither the long-term investment nor the immediate ticket to success to justify even a fraction of his cost. If the Blues were willing to spend that much money they should have let Eden Hazard name his price to stay at Stamford Bridge, and then use whatever was left over to buy 3-5 players to build a proper XI around Hazard.

The Coutinho rumour is particularly dangerous in this age of Sarritological FIFA thinking.

Coutinho had one excellent season at Liverpool along with several above-average seasons on Merseyside. He has yet to find that same level at Barcelona. This is enough for Sarri & Co. to look at Coutinho as the converse of Gonzalo Higuain. Higuain, so they say, had that one excellent season for Maurizio Sarri at Napoli three years ago. This was enough to bring Higuain to Chelsea, where he has repeatedly and thoroughly proved them all wrong.

Coutinho’s success at Liverpool and diminution at Barcelona could lead them to say “Coutinho knows the Premier League, particularly the top six. In fact, he is uniquely and specifically suited to it! Sign. Him. Up.” Chelsea do not need another such signing.

As several of my colleagues have pointed out, Chelsea’s transfer ban may make for a difficult year but is overall a positive turn of events. It will allow the club to reset on a few matters of policy, and will prohibit them from making any more mistakes (if FIFA really wanted to punish the club, they would force them to make more purchases, knowing the Blues would fill up their squad with more injured mid-grade players).

The transfer ban, if it is upheld, will also cut down on vacuous transfer rumours, such as this one. We may have less to talk about this summer, but that’s a small price to pay for the overall improvement in discourse and the club’s operations.

Then again, maybe not. If the impending ban and an explicit public statement from a non-target’s club president does not adequately quash rumours, we may have a busy summer after all, even if the club cannot.