Liverpool ‘demanded 200m for Coutinho’

A LEADING Barcelona board member cla imed L iver pool set a n ask i ng pr ice of € 200 mi l l ion ( $ 238 mi l l ion) for midfielder Philippe Coutinho as t he Cata la n g ia nt s cr it icised t he ra mpant inf lat ion in t he footba ll transfer market on Saturday.

Albert Soler, Barca’s director of institutional relations, said the club’s underfire board would not put the future of the institution at risk by bending to excessive demands.

“L iver pool put a pr ice of € 200 million on a player t hat we wanted,” Soler told reporters at a press conference held to explain Barca’s haphazard signing policy this summer.

Liverpool, though, responded angrily to his claim and were quoted on the BBC website as saying that it was “absolutely false”.

Barcelona ended the window making a slight profit on transfers after receiving a world record € 222 million from Neymar’s move to Paris SaintGermain.

Despite splashing over € 190 million on five signings, most notably € 105 million on 20-year-old French winger Ousmane Dembele, Soler claimed that Barca wouldn’t be drawn into an arms race with the cash-rich Premier League and Qatar-backed Paris SaintGermain.

“We didn’t want to put at risk the heritage of the club. This is a club of 150,000 members and has to be managed with coherence and responsiblity,” he said. “We won’t get involved in the game of a market that has lost its way.

“This board won’t put the club at risk. UEFA and the European Clubs Association [ECA] have to reflect and make a decision.”

UEFA announced on Friday that PSG will be investigated for a potential breach of Financial Fair Play rules after adding Kylian Mbappe to the capture of Neymar from Monaco in a deal that could rise to € 180 million.

Soler dismissed claims that Barca’s status as one of the world’s leading clubs is being threatened by their inability or unwillingness to match the lavish spending of other clubs.

“We haven’t lost any international status for having common sense and not putting the financial viability of the club at risk.”

Barca also insist that fivetime world player of the year Lionel Messi will soon sign a new contract, tying him to the club until 2021.