Unai Emery has had a say on recent transfer speculations linking Barcelona's Phillippe Coutinho with a move to Arsenal. The Spanish manager has dismissed the likelihood of the Gunners securing the signature of the Brazilian playmaker.
Having sealed a big-money move from Liverpool to Barcelona in 2017, Coutinho's spell has been marred by a series of inconsistent performances which has resulted in him failing to break into Los Blaugrana's first team. The 26-year-old attacker's poor form was prevalent last season as he managed just 11 goals in 56 appearances across all competitions.
As such, Barcelona is said to be aiming at cutting its losses by putting the player and a few others up for sale. Reports that emerged earlier this summer suggested the Paris Saint-Germain was keeping tabs on the ex-Liverpool star and the Ligue 1 champions were seemingly looking at the possibility of a swap deal. The club's interest would have seen wantaway striker Neymar Jr heading back to Camp Nou while his compatriot arrives at Parc des Princes but very little has emerged from talks on that front.
Meanwhile, fresh word on the block is that Arsenal is exploring the possibility of signing Coutinho with a loan move looking the most probable for the Gunners. However, the claims have been rebuffed by Unai Emery who insists that the Barca star is not on his wishlist.
"We've never talked about Coutinho. He's a splendid player, but we haven't talked about Coutinho at any time," Emery told SER.
The former Paris Saint-Germain manager is expected to stage an impressive charge with Arsenal this season as his side has managed to seal a couple of high-profile signings. The team has been significantly boosted with the arrival of Nicolas Pepe from Spain, as well as Dani Ceballos on a loan deal from Real Madrid. Celtic's Kieran Tierney is also said to be on the shortlist of the Emirates outfit.
