BARCELONA READY TO SELL £108M MAN UTD TARGET TO FUND STUNNING NEYMAR RETURN

Barcelona are willing to sacrifice Manchester United target Philippe Coutinho to fund a return for Neymar, reports claim.

The Brazil international is only a year into his contract at the Camp Nou following his £142million move from Liverpool last January.

However, he has so far failed to justify the heavy price tag and Ernesto Valverde hasn’t started him in a La Liga match since December 2.

The ex-Liverpool playmaker was viewed as a replacement for Neymar on the left with the potential to fill Andres Iniesta’s shoes but he has struggled to make those roles his own.

Coutinho only played seven minutes in Barcelona‘s narrow 2-1 win over Getafe on Sunday and Manchester United are reportedly ‘in talks’ over a potential move which would cost in excess of £100million.

In a fresh report, the Evening Standard claims that Barca want Neymar back at the club and Coutinho ‘could be the player sold to help raise funds for the move’.

Neymar ‘would likely have to express his desire to return’ to Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain to give the green light following his €222m move to the Parc des Princes in 2017.

Lionel Messi told Marca over Christmas that his former team-mates “would love” to have Neymar back in Spain, while in November Barca’s director of institutional and sporting relations Guillermo Amor said “anything is possible” when asked about a deal with PSG.

Despite that, Amor said on Monday that Coutinho still has a future at the Camp Nou and he believes the 26-year-old still has “a lot to give” the club.