Barcelona hope to 'reach agreement' for Coutinho as club targets two more signings

Primera Liga club aim to do late business following the arrival of French winger Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund.

Philippe Coutinho, right, is on international duty with Brazil and Neymar, left, the player whose Barcelona exit could lead to Coutinho's arrival. Nelson Almeida / AFP

Barcelona are aiming to sign another two players before the end of the transfer window following the arrival of French winger Ousmane Dembele, club director Robert Fernandez said.

Dembele, 20, signed for Barcelona on Monday for a club record €150 million (Dh660.65m), with the former Borussia Dortmund player viewed as the replacement for Brazilian forward Neymar, who secured a world record €222m move to Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month.

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However, the Primera Liga giants are still in the market for more players, with Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho the No 1 target. Barcelona have already had three bids rejected for the Brazilian midfielder, the latest of which was reported to be worth €125m.

Liverpool have made their stance clear, and despite Coutinho expressing his desire to join Barca in the form of a transfer request, the Premier League club are determined to keep hold of one of their key players.

It appears that Barcelona are not yet prepared to give up on their pursuit of Coutinho, with Fernandez revealing talks are ongoing.

"It is true that we are negotiating with a player and we have only a few days left," the Barca director was quoted as saying by Mundo Deportivo when asked about the latest on Coutinho. "We hope to reach a good deal, reach an agreement and be able to present a new player.

"We have been working for many days, there may be one player or there may be two. My intention is to get another player and if possible, two. "

One of those potential arrivals will not be Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri after talks broke down between the two clubs.

"He is a very good player, with good conditions, but after analysing the situation well, our priority is to reinforce other positions," Fernandez said of Seri.

The collapsed move triggered a furious response from Seri, who accused the Nice board of killing his dream move to Barcelona.

"I didn't play with Nice this weekend because I didn't have my head on football. My dream to go to Barca has been broken, and that - for me - is terrible," Seri told Mundo Deportivo.

"The conversations between the two clubs went from bad to worse. As far as I can tell, I've not left Nice due to financial reasons.

"After the [Uefa Champions League play-off against Napoli] I met with Barcelona's directors for more than an hour and they didn't tell me anything about not going through with signing me. I went home really happy; then the next day I read the news. I was stunned.

"I went to the Nice offices to see the board and find out what happened. I exploded! The walls shook. They didn't say anything to me, they didn't look me straight in the eye. They had promised me one thing, but didn't keep their word and asked for more money."