Chelsea risk losing Pulisic if Coutinho transfer goes ahead

Chelsea has been warned that signing Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho could lead to Christian Pulisic leaving Stamford Bridge.

Coutinho has struggled to settle at the Spanish giants since his £142m move from Liverpool in January 2018 and was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich this season.

And despite the Brazilian's impressive displays and a tally of eight goals and six assists in the Bundesliga, Bayern has opted not to activate a clause to buy Coutinho at the end of his loan spell.

With Barcelona reportedly unmoved in their stance to sell the 27-year-old, a move to the Premier League seems most likely after Coutinho's agent said earlier this month that his client "would love" to return to England.

Chelsea currently leads the race for the playmaker, though ESPN pundit Don Hutchinson believes signing Coutinho would come with the risk of losing Pulisic.

The American moved to west London only last summer in a £58m transfer and has four years remaining on his contract, but he plays either in attacking midfield or on the wing - just as Coutinho does.

Therefore, buying Coutinho would severely limit the minutes and hamper the development of 21-year-old Pulisic, who has scored six goals and provided six assists this season.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is understood to be keen to revitalise Coutinho's career and Barcelona are prepared to let the former Liverpool star go for far less than the fee they paid two years ago.

The rumoured £80m price tag is higher than what the Blues are willing to pay, but the Catalan club are desperate to raise funds for a summer splurge on Neymar and Lautaro Martinez.

Neymar left Camp Nou for Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 in a £198m deal and Inter Milan star Martinez has a £98m release clause in his contract, so Barcelona's priority targets will cost some hundreds of millions of pounds to land.