£145M FOR COUTINHO IS A BARGAIN!
Barca claim they got him on the cheap
BARCELONA claimed yesterday that new signing Philippe Coutinho was a £145million bargain in the January sales.
On the day the Brazil playmaker was presented as the club’s record buy, Barca vice-president Jordi Mestre said Liverpool had reduced their asking price a lot since the summer.
Asked why the deal was possible now when it had not been then, Mestre said: ‘The financial conditions have been brought down so there has been a significant discount. We can’t reveal the figures but it is an important amount.’
Liverpool are likely to dispute they lowered the transfer fee. The clubs also wrangled over the final price paid for Luis Suarez in 2014, when Liverpool said they had received £75m but the fee was later revealed as £65m.
After being presented to 7,000 fans at the Nou Camp, Coutinho explained his former Liverpool team-mate Suarez had played an important part in his joining Barcelona.
Cracking the biggest smile of the day, he said: ‘We almost won the Premier League together at Liverpool (in 2014), it was a great time.
‘We are good friends and he wrote me a lot of messages telling me about the city and the club. The more he told me, the more it made me want to come here. I am really happy to play with him again. He even did some house-hunting for me, he is a very close friend.’
Coutinho revealed he had received a congratulatory phone call from Neymar, the player whose £198m sale to Paris Saint- Germain in the summer sent transfer prices soaring, leaving Coutinho as the second most expensive signing in football history.
‘He is a great striker but we are very different players,’ said Coutinho, when asked if he could make the Barcelona supporters forget about Neymar. ‘I am just coming here to fight for my place. Neymar congratulated me yesterday and told me my team-mates are incredible.’
On the pitch, he is more likely to replace 33-year- old Andres Iniesta than his Brazilian pal. ‘He is a genius,’ he said of the Barcelona captain. ‘It is also a great honour to play and learn from him. I just want to be able to play and then it is up to the coach where he puts me.’
Coutinho’s debut will not come on Thursday in the Spanish Cup tie against Celta Vigo after the medical he passed yesterday morning revealed a minor hamstring injury that will keep him out for three weeks.
He could make his debut on February 4 against Espanyol, for whom he played on loan in 2012.
Coutinho said: ‘I will not be able to play Champions League this season (he is cup-tied), but my contract is for five years and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I have played in La Liga before, so hopefully I will adapt quickly.’
And he promised not to be weighed down by the £145m fee. ‘It’s an honour more than a pressure,’ he said. ‘ The money issue was between the two clubs. I have my own objectives. I want to win titles and enjoy myself here.’
Accompanied by wife Aine and agent Kia Joorabchian, the player spoke of ‘five happy years’ at Liverpool and described his last conversation with Anfield boss Jurgen Klopp as ‘one of gratitude’.
He said Liverpool ‘ kept their word’, suggesting they had told him he could leave this month, having resisted all approaches from Barca in the summer.
Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu added: ‘I want to thank Liverpool for allowing Coutinho to leave. And to him for his patience, too, because there were other clubs interested in him. But this is his home now.’
There was no number on the Barcelona shirt that Coutinho held aloft. When he is finally given one, it could be the No 14 that is for ever associated with one of the club’s all-time greats, Johan Cruyff.
The Dutchman wore No 14 for Ajax and Holland and would have done so for Barcelona had he not played in an era when shirts were numbered 1-11 in Spain. No 7 is also an option. It will be free if Barca are able to sell Turkey midfielder Arda Turan.
If neither Javier Mascherano — who currently wears No 14 but is poised to move to China — nor Turan leave, then Coutinho will wear No 24.
‘From the beginning I was clear about my wishes. Liverpool tried everything but they understood my dream. I need to thank them for that,’ he added. ‘They kept their word. I played for six months and I was professional about it and now the time has come for me to be here.’