Barcelona Have Made One Of The English Premier League's Best Players Their Top Target

Barcelona’s last two forays into the Premier League have yielded mixed results.

The Spanish giants swooped to take Luis Suarez from Liverpool in July 2014 and the Uruguayan has already turned into a club hero.

One month after signing Luis Suarez, Barcelona paid Arsenal £15 million for Thomas Vermaelen. He’s made 11 league appearances for the Blaugrana and is currently on loan at Roma.

The Premier League hasn’t always been Barcelona’s best friend. Alex Song will go down as one of the strangest signings in the club’s history, but fans will remember Javier Mascherano for a very long time.

The adjustment from English football to La Liga is smooth for some, but more difficult for others. But Barcelona have seen enough to believe their latest target will thrive.

Their interest in Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho has been well documented, according to GiveMeSport. According to Spanish outlet Sport, the Brazilian playmaker is their number one transfer target.

The front cover of today’s edition of Sport features the headline: “Objetivo Coutinho”. You don’t need a degree in Spanish to work out what that means.

Coutinho scored a spectacular goal for Brazil against Argentina yesterday:

Philippe #Coutinho 💨| vs Argentina (H) | RTs & Likes much appreciated! | #LFC pic.twitter.com/l3Y1ijNypl

— Philippe Coutinho (@CoutinhoLatest) November 11, 2016

Despite Barca’s interest in the 24-year-old, who scored a beauty for Brazil in last night’s win over Argentina, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague doubts the player will leave Merseyside any time soon.

“He needs a bit more glamour for Real Madrid to have big, big interest,” Balague wrote for Sky Sports.

“For Barcelona, they need to decide what to do with Arda Turan, and then they have to decide whether a player like Coutinho fits in that team.

“The problem with Coutinho as a No 10, he hasn’t got a place in a Barcelona 4-3-3. He has to play wide, or play deeper, but that isn’t his role, so it’s difficult to find a place for him.

“Let’s see who the manager is at Barcelona next season, or if Luis Enrique continues, but certainly he would be so expensive that I couldn’t see Barca coming in for him just yet.

“At the moment, neither of them are in the equation, but let’s see how things progress.”