According to a fresh report from Catalunya Radio (as relayed by Sport), Barcelona are willing to sacrifice Philippe Coutinho right now in order to fund a move for a new striker.

What's the word, then?

Barcelona are desperate to land a new no.9 as a possible replacement for the injured Luis Suarez.

They would like to cash in on their Brazilian loanee in order to drum up enough funds to search for new reinforcements.

Coutinho is currently playing his football over at Bayern Munich and the German club are paying his €8.5m (£7.2m) salary and also have a €120m (£101m) option to buy, but they won't be triggering that clause according to Sport.

Calling all transfer experts! How much did each of these Deadline Day signings cost?

So now Barcelona are actively looking for a possible buyer while Ivan Rakitic is another player who could leave the club amid links to several Italian outfits.

Verdict

If anything, this moves only reeks of desperation and Barcelona would be far wiser to avoid making any rash decisions this late in the window.

The last thing they want right now is another Kevin-Prince Boateng case as he was also acquired in a similar manner and ended up playing just 303 minutes during his short spell in Catalonia.

Besides, maybe Quique Setien could do what Ernesto Valverde couldn't and find a place for Coutinho in his current squad.

That option looks far more achievable than finding a suitor for such an expensive player less than two days before the market closes.

If the situation truly is so dire, they should've acted far sooner.

In other news, Manchester United have shown some interest in one Barcelona player they might want to move on in January...