Report: Barcelona Eye Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic Sales to Raise €124M

Barcelona are reportedly confident of selling Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic in order to balance the books at the club.

According to Moises Llorens and Sam Marsden of ESPN FC, the Blaugrana need to raise €124 million (£111.2 million) in player sales before June 30, 2020, in order to avoid going into the red, and Rakitic and Coutinho are set to be moved on to raise the money. 

Coutinho, 27, is on a season-long loan at Bayern Munich. 

He moved to the German champions in August after failing to guarantee his spot in Barca's first team following his January 2018 move to the Camp Nou from Liverpool.

So far in 2019-20, the Brazil international has netted two goals and provided two assists in six Bundesliga appearances:

If Coutinho carries on with that kind of form throughout the campaign, Bayern may decide to take up their option to sign him for €120 million (£107.7 million), which would all but solve Barca's financial issues in one fell swoop.

Croatian midfielder Rakitic, meanwhile, has started just one of Barcelona's eight La Liga games this season after five consecutive seasons as a key part of the first team.

He has been the major casualty of Frenkie de Jong's arrival from Ajax, as well as the emergence of Arthur in the middle of the park, and his relationship with manager Ernesto Valverde has deteriorated, according to Llorens and Marsden.

Rakitic remains a brilliant central-midfield operator, though, and would likely pique the interest of numerous top European clubs were he to become available.

At 31, he is in the closing years of his career, but he could still be a valuable asset at almost any club for the next couple of years.