Philippe Coutinho 'wants to sign' for Man Utd: Neville hilariously trolls Liverpool

The former Liverpool star has been tipped to quit Barcelona this summer after struggling to impress at the Nou Camp.

Express Sport understands United and Chelsea are chasing the Brazil international, 26.

Reports in Spain this week claimed Barcelona will hold a meeting with Coutinho’s representatives to discuss his future.

The Spanish giants could even be open to selling the playmaker at the end of the season.

And Neville has waded in on United signing the former Liverpool star, revealing he thinks Coutinho wants to head to Old Trafford.

After picking Coutinho in his starting XI for next season on Premier League today, Neville’s fellow pundit Matt Holland said: “That’s got controversy written all over it. Ex-Liverpool.”

Neville interrupted, saying: “Why? He wants to sign for Manchester United.”

“Does he? Do you know him well?” Holland replied.

After a little laugh, Neville said: “I don’t know.”

A lot has been made of Coutinho’s struggles, with ESPN’s Barca correspondent Samuel Marsden claiming it’s because the Brazilian has not been played in his best position.

“I’m not sure his form is do with the fee, I think it’s more to do with a positional thing,” Marsden told the Liverpool Echo’s Blood Red podcast.

“Robert Fernandez, the sporting director who signed him, but who is now not in the job, he does punditry on television, and he’s spoken a bit about Coutinho in the last few weeks.

“He’s of the firm opinion that Coutinho’s best position would be in midfield, and the idea was that he would come and sort of step into [Andres] Iniesta’s role, on that inside left position, and from the start of the season that’s where we did see him play.

“But Valverde quickly dropped him from that role because he felt that Barca needed a midfield prepared to work more and defend, and having Coutinho was almost like having a fourth attacker rather than having a third midfielder. 

“So Coutinho was then moved to the left-wing and [Ousmane] Dembele was dropped and there were problems with Dembele.

“But then Coutinho got injured, Dembele got his act together, got into the team and did well.

“So from feeling like he didn’t have a home in the team, to then getting injured, and then losing his place to Dembele, it’s all contributed to knocking his confidence.

“He’s had his moments but it’s not the Coutinho we saw at Liverpool and it’s hard to see how he recovers his spark.

“Valverde has given Coutinho a lot of chances, probably more chances that he would have given other players, because of the fee that Barca paid for him, and obviously the quality he has as well. 

“He seemed like a player playing without confidence at times and Valverde kept playing him and stuck with him to try and bring that confidence back. 

“But he’s not quite managed to get that confidence or spark back that he did have when he first joined the club.”