FC BARCELONA has signed up Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho for the eye-watering sum of €160 million – the second-most expensive transfer in football history.
The Brazilian has signed a five-and-a-half-year deal with the Catalunya-based premier league club for a fixed €120m fee plus a €40m bonus, with a €400m buyout clause.
After his compatriot Neymar, recently bought by Paris-Saint Germain – which paid Barça the €222m penalty clause he faced for breaking his contract with the Spanish side – Coutinho's move from Anfield to Camp Nou represents the second-highest acquisition fee on record.
Barça had been bidding for Coutinho since the summer, but each offer had been turned down – although in a sudden frenzy of meetings and haggling over the Christmas period, Liverpool FC finally shook hands on the fee of £142m.
Rio de Janeiro-born Philippe Coutinho Correia, 25, says he is 'looking forward to making his fans happy' with his new team, and is expected to be presented tomorrow (Monday, January 8) after his medical.
He has already changed his Instagram profile photograph to show him wearing Barça colours, maroon and blue.
Coutinho is not moving to unknown national territory – he was loaned to Catalunya-based club Espanyol CF in 2012 from his then Italian team Internazionale, which had bought him for €4m in 2008 but where he did not play his début match for another two years as he was immediately loaned back to his previous side, CR Vasco da Gama, where he had started out in the youth team.
He had played for his country on the youth squad before, but at age 18, he represented the Brazilian national team for the first time as a senior and, since then, has been on the American Cup (Copa América) side twice, although national team manager Luiz Filipe Scolari did not pick him for the FIFA World Cup team when his home country hosted it in 2014.
The winger has scored 41 goals in his four-year Liverpool career, and scored 16 times during his sole season with Espanyol.
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