BARCELONA are scouting Chelsea and Tottenham defenders as part of any deal to sell Philippe Coutinho to either club, according to reports.
The LaLiga giants may decide to cut their losses on the Brazilian playmaker and move him on again in the summer.
But with transfer fees set to be dramatically reduced across the market this summer, they are thought to be considering another way to make a deal more worthwhile.
According to Sport in Spain, Barcelona are looking to receive a £55million up front cash fee from any buying club.
But the Catalans also want a £25m-rated player thrown in to make a swap deal worth a total of £80m.
The report states a new defender is the priority at the Nou Camp so Barcelona are taking a look at what Chelsea and Spurs have to offer, focusing on centre-backs and left-backs.
Finding a suitable player to add into the player-plus-cash deal could prove tricky, though.
At Chelsea, Frank Lampard is unlikely to be willing to let Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma or Fikayo Tomori leave while Marcos Alonso and Emerson would be downgrades on current first-choice left-back Jordi Alba.
Across town at White Hart Lane, meanwhile, it is a similar story.
Jan Vertonghen is out of contract this summer while Toby Alderweireld only recently signed an extension.
Davinson Sanchez would be the most valuable centre-back while versatile youngster Juan Foyth could be an option.
At left-back, Danny Rose – currently at Newcastle – and Ben Davies are unlikely to be of particular interest to the LaLiga leaders.
That overall £80m figure for a Coutinho deal is roughly around 55 per cent of the total £145m fee Barca paid Liverpool for the attacking midfielder in January 2018.
After shipping Coutinho out on loan to Bayern Munich for this season, the German giants passed on the option to make the switch permanent for around £105m despite scoring nine and assisting eight.
The ex-Inter Milan man, 28 today, is thought to be keen on a return to the Premier League, where he enjoyed a successful five-year spell with Liverpool between 2013 and 2018.
However, it is Chelsea and Tottenham leading the chase for his signature ahead of the transfer window reopening.
Newcastle are also thought to be keen if and when their Saudi-backed £300m takeover is completed while Arsenal and Everton continue to show interest.
But Leicester and Manchester United appear to have cooled on the idea of splashing out on Coutinho.
