Arsenal could land Philippe Coutinho for a low price in swap plus cash deal

Arsenal appear to be a step closer to signing Philipe Coutinho from Barcelona.

The Brazilian playmaker is out of favour at Barcelona and was loaned out for a full season to Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga champions have shown no interest in signing him permanently.

According to The Independent Barcelona are open to the idea of a swap deal for Coutinho, involving Arsenal’s out of favour midfielder Matteo Guendouzi moving in the other direction.

The report states that a deal involving Guendouzi is being explored in a swap plus cash deal which would see Arsenal pay just £9m to the La Liga giants.

However, the outcome of Saturday’s FA cup final will be a major factor to Arsenal’s transfers this summer.

Arsenal need to beat Chelsea at Wembley to qualify for the Europa League, which would provide a budget boost for Arteta this summer.

Arsenal are ready to part ways with Guendouzi

Arteta questioned  Guendouzi’s maturity after the incident against Brighton and has frozen out the French midfielder from first-team training after he failed to impress during a disciplinary meeting with him and technical director Edu.

Arteta must sign a creative midfielder to solve one of the issues in the creativity department, a void left by Mesut Ozil who doesn’t seem to be part of Arteta’s plans.

Coutinho completed a mouth watering £140m move from Premier League champions Liverpool in January 2018 but has struggled ever since the transfer, failing to blend in at Barcelona.

Coutinho has scored 8 goals and provided 6 assists for Bayern this season in his 23 appearances.

Signing Coutinho for £9m would be a huge deal for Arsenal. Arteta is planning to rebuild the squad but admitted he is concerned about a potential lack of funds this summer.

Arsenal fans and pundits have urged the board to back Arteta in the transfer market.