Christian Eriksen is now on Barcelona’s radar (Picture: Getty)

Barcelona are reportedly looking into sealing the transfer of Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen as an alternative to Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho.

The Catalan giants are already thought to be in the process of working on the deal via intermediaries, and have had Eriksen in mind as a backup plan for some time.

Barcelona are in the market for a long-term replacement for Andres Iniesta in midfield, and view Eriksen as another player, like Coutinho, who could fit the bill precisely in terms of their style of play and tactical philosophy.

The Denmark international, however, is likely to cost over £100million as Spurs are known to be tough negotiators in the transfer market, having pocketed £50m for Kyle Walker when he moved to Manchester City earlier this summer.

Philippe Coutinho may be hard to prise away from Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

This follows Barca losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain after they activated his £199m release clause, giving them plenty in the way of funds to work with to strengthen two key areas of their squad.

A direct replacement for Neymar up front is also a priority, with Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele being targeted, while Coutinho had emerged as their first choice to fill the Iniesta role in their side.

However, following Liverpool’s statement today that the Brazil international is not for sale, the La Liga giants have turned to Eriksen as an alternative, according to the Independent.

The 25-year-old was in fine form for Tottenham last season, but has a contract with the club until 2020, which could mean Barca will have to spend big to prise him away.

Eriksen has been a key player for Tottenham (Picture: Getty)

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They will hope to have made some early progress, however, with claims that they’ve made initial approaches via intermediaries to begin the process of poaching him from north London.

Spurs have struggled to hold on to their best players on a number of occasions in recent years, with Walker leaving for City this summer and Gareth Bale moving to Real Madrid back in 2013.

They have shown some resilience in this transfer window, though, with interest in the likes of Eric Dier and Danny Rose so far fought off.

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