Tottenham tipped for surprise potential Philippe Coutinho swoop | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur could be the surprise club to end Philippe Coutinho’s Barcelona nightmare this summer.

Coutinho is expected to leave Camp Nou just 18 months after his €145m switch from Liverpool.

The Brazilian has reportedly informed Barça of his desire to leave, and Chelsea, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain have all been linked with potential moves.

But now South American football expert Tim Vickery has hinted that Coutinho could head to Spurs for a reunion with Mauricio Pochettino, after the pair previously worked together at Espanyol.

“It hasn’t worked and I’m not sure how it can work,” Vickery told Sky Sports News when discussing Coutinho’s time at Barcelona.

“I’m also convinced that he couldn’t say no. How can you say no when Barcelona come knocking? As a Brazilian, you could never say no, but there are clearly two problems.

“One is that they signed him as an [Andres] Iniesta replacement, and he’s not. Nobody’s an Iniesta replacement, but certainly not Coutinho. He’s not a genuine midfielder; he does his best work in the final 30 metres of the field. He was signed for a role that he’s not fit for.

“Also with [Luis] Suarez losing a little bit of pace, that’s why [Ousmane] Dembele is ahead in the pecking order. You can’t see him fitting into the midfield three and you can’t see him fitting into the front three – and his relationship with the supporters seems to have broken down.

“The problem is Barcelona spent so much money on him; how much of a loss are they prepared to take to offload him?

“The most logical place for him to come, surely, would be the Premier League. He did very well at Liverpool, and remember that relationship he had with [Mauricio] Pochettino at Espanyol. Is there a little light flashing there?”

It seems crazy, but stranger things have happened.

Coutinho has scored 21 goals and assisted 11 others in 76 appearances for Barcelona.

The 27-year-old previously played under Pochettino when he spent four months on loan at Espanyol from Inter Milan in 2012.