Barcelona prepare massive new bid for Philippe Coutinho after El Clasico humbling

                                         By Danny Ryan              AUG 17, 2017

Wednesday night was a dark moment in the modern history of Barcelona as they were left humiliated by their bitter rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish capital.

Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema scored goals to claim an easy 2-0 win for Los Blancos as they ran out 5-1 aggregate winners in the Spanish Super Cup.

Aside from Lionel Messi, a Neymar-less Barcelona looked sub-standard and Ernesto Valverde surely knows he must invest soon or else face further decline.

The Blaugrana are linked with two huge stars; Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele. It is thought that with the €222m they received from the Neymar deal that they will move for them both in the coming weeks.

Now, it seems Wednesday night's humbling has sprung them into action and they are now preparing a massive new bid for Coutinho.

According to Goal, per Mirror, Barca are set to up their bid from €90m to around €130m in an attempt to get the deal done as quick as possible.

It would make the Liverpool man the second most expensive player of all time and it would surely be beneficial to Jurgen Klopp's side to offload him after the Brazilian handed in a formal transfer request.

It remains to be seen what role the Blaugrana would look to use Coutinho in, particularly if they sign Dembele as well.

The Frenchman would be a much more natural fit to succeed Neymar and perhaps Barca are finally looking for a man to act as the heir to Andres Iniesta's throne.

The Spanish legend is reaching the twilight years of his career and was fairly bog standard in the first leg of the Super Cup in the Nou Camp.

Coutinho would be a perfect fit, an elegant playmaker capable of breaking defensive lines with ease and dazzling the crowd with his sensational skills.