By Tim Stannard/beIN SPORTS USA

Barca boss, Quique Setien, suggests that the future of Barcelona player, Philippe Coutinho, could be at...Barcelona

Remember the talk of Phillipe Coutinho being offloaded to Chelsea in return for N'Golo Kante? That was so yesterday's news. Actually, it was literally yesterday's news. 

Thursday - Coutinho's destiny might well lie with Barcelona. And there are actual quotes to prove it. 

Technically speaking, the footballer is already a Barcelona player but currently out on loan at Bayern Munich where he has scored eight goals and made six assists in 22 league appearances for the club. But with the Bundesliga outfit not showing any desire to go through with an option to buy the Brazilian playmaker at the end of the season, it was assumed that Coutinho would return to Barcelona, before being offloaded elsewhere.

But in the manner of creating meals out of things found randomly in the fridge to avoid going to the grocery store, Quique Setien might have playing plans for Coutinho after all. 

Talking extensively to the media on Wednesday, the Barca boss declared that he was a huge fan of his club's own property. "He's a great player and I like him a lot," beamed the Barca boss, "I can count on him because he's a player you can depend on. At best, I need to talk with him."

So...there is a hope for Coutinho. 

Thursday also sees more development on the Lautaro Martinez story. Or none at all. 

Sky Sports Italia are declaring that Barcelona are putting talks over the transfer of the footballer on hold for the moment while the club works out if it has any money or not. 

However, the Italian media says that Inter have given up the ghost on the footballer and even getting the $122 million buyout clause on the footballer. Instead, Inter will accept cash and makeweights in any kind of deal. 

Sports Burst will try and make sense of it all with its live show at 12PM ET / 9AM ET on Facebook Live, Youtube Live and also on the beIN SPORTS Channel.

The Sports Burst PM show at 7PM ET on beIN SPORTS will wrap up the day's goings on. 

Busquets casts doubts on LaLiga return while EPL plans future 

Time now to dip into the Reopening Room where there has been more speculation and a degree of pushback in regards to the European soccer leagues coming back any time soon. 

LaLiga has been hoping to have at least training starting in May with strict protocols of players being kept in training centers and significant amounts of testing. However both Sergi Busquets and Quique Setien cast doubts on how feasible such a stringent regime would be. 

"It's going to be difficult to start LaLiga again," admitted the Barcelona midfielder, while the Barca manager mused that "I don't think these (measures) can be carried out."

The English Premier League is set to have a big meeting on Friday to discuss the possibility of setting a 30th June deadline to finish off the current 2019-2020 competition. It seems that the situation with player contracts running out is also matched by the complexity of kit deals changing along with other legal issues. 

One scenario could see no relegation from the league this season and two teams being promoted from the Championship to have a 22-team league next year, which is now being seen as a priority as opposed to wrapping up the current campaign. 

Elsewhere, Italy's leading infectious diseases specialist, Giovanni Rezza, says that there is a path for Italian football to resume in May but with the same protocols as other leagues are suggesting - social isolation, no crowds and regular testing. 

In Germany, there will be no crowds at Bundesliga games until at least September with the government banning large gatherings until this time. However Bundesliga clubs are currently in limited training and planning a restart in May if the conditions are are right.