Barcelona offer Arsenal target Messi’s shirt number to persuade him to stay | OneFootball

In what appears to be an interesting change of plans, Barcelona has told Philippe Coutinho that he is an important part of their plans and they want to keep him now, according to The Daily Mail.

The Brazilian has struggled with injuries and has been unable to justify why the Catalans broke their transfer record to sign him from Liverpool in 2018.

His time in Spain has been poor and injury prone and he even spent the 2019/2020 season on loan at Bayern Munich, where he won the Champions League.

Mikel Arteta has been interested in a move for him for some time now as he believes the Brazilian has the creativity to help his squad.

The midfielder has been linked with a move away as one of the players that can help them raise funds to bring down their rising debts.

However, with no suitors getting serious about him, the report says Barcelona has promised to hand him the recently vacated number 10 shirt previously worn by Lionel Messi.

They have already stripped him of his number 14 shirt and it claims he is not exactly interested in the new shirt number.

Arsenal has just signed Martin Odegaard and might be happy with their current squad.