Barcelona 'blocked' Andre Gomes deadline day loan to Tottenham after admitting Coutinho defeat

Tottenham Hotspur reportedly failed to convince Barcelona to part ways with Andre Gomes on deadline day due to the Catalan's own failure to sign Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool.

Spurs were said to be ready to beat West Ham for his signing but Daily Mail reports that Barcelona scuppered the deal at the last moment after admitting defeat in their pursuit of Coutinho.

Gomes, 24, garnered a reputation as one of the most promising midfielder around Europe during his spell at Valencia.

Chelsea, Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid were thus all linked with his services during the last summer transfer window before Barcelona agreed his signing from Valencia in a deal worth €35m plus €20m in add-ons.

It was said that the Catalans had identified him as the long-term replacement for Andres Iniesta and were so convinced about his talent that agreed to include a weird clause in the deal with Valencia which states that they would need to pay an extra €15m fee to Los Che should the midfielder win the Ballon d'Or more than once.

Gomes, however, failed to fulfil those expectations during his debut campaign at the Nou Camp, and was booed by his own crowd in some games.

Earlier in the summer, reports in Spain claimed that Barcelona were ready to give him a new chance to prove himself under Ernesto Valverde after the club turned down three different big-money offers to cash in on the Portugal international.

On 22 June Catalan publication Mundo Deportivo reported that Juventus and Manchester United were behind two of the offers with the third proposal coming from north London – failing to clarify whether it was from Arsenal or Tottenham.

The speculations linking Gomes with a move to Juventus continued through the summer as the Italian side were looking to bolster the midfield.

However, earlier this week it emerged that Tottenham and West Ham had joined the race to secure his services after learning that Barcelona were ready to let him go on loan.

Tottenham stepped up the negotiation with Barcelona on deadline day ahead of securing his services on loan with a view to a permanent move.

Some reports late on 31 August suggested that the agreement between Spurs and Barcelona was close but Daily Mail says that the Catalans changed their mind at the very last minute after conceding that Liverpool are not going to sell them Coutinho.

Yet, even though the Spanish transfer window remains open until 11:00pm BST on Friday (1 September), it looks even more unlikely now for Liverpool to cash in on the Brazilian ace as now they won't be able to sign a replacement.

Gomes would have became Tottenham's sixth signing of the summer on deadline day, after Mauricio Pochettino secured Fernando Llorente and Serge Aurier - with Spurs having previously signed defender Juan Foyth, goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga and centre-back Davinson Sanchez.