Worrying news coming out of Dublin about Philippe Coutinho’s Liverpool future

Could this be the start of the end?

Rumours of Philippe Coutinho leaving Liverpool for Barcelona just won't go away. In a week that was dominated by the headline grabbing news of Neymar joining PSG (pending Uefa ratification), talk has been abound that the Camp Nou club have made Coutinho their number one target to replace his compatriot. Indeed the Spanish press seem to think the transfer of the 25-year-old to Barca is well progressed. Both SPORT and Mundo Deportivo are reporting that the deal is only a 'step away', with the player having already agreed personal terms with the Catalan club. He won't make his desire to leave public until he has to. There was even talk that negotiations were at such an advanced stage that the player would be left out of Liverpool's friendly game with Athletic Bilbao at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday. These rumours were dismissed as idle speculation on Friday as the player was expected to feature. But on Saturday morning, it has been confirmed that Coutinho has not in fact travelled to Ireland with the rest of his Anfield teammates, being left out of Liverpool's squad with an apparent 'sore back'. The Brazilian didn't board the plane to the Irish capital. Certainly worried fans are in equal parts suspicious and cynical about the sudden back pain... https://twitter.com/SarcyFringehead/status/893790064408395778 https://twitter.com/vickery135/status/893789163841101824 https://twitter.com/ouggi/status/893788058956562432 https://twitter.com/josh_earl3/status/893787632702029825 https://twitter.com/greg_kerins/status/893789664263450628 https://twitter.com/mattywilson1991/status/893783999772012544 https://twitter.com/DonSeith/status/893776671874142213 https://twitter.com/CalumGallagher1/status/893785095286468608