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.

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.