Coutinho moves to Barca in $193 million deal

Liverpool will receive $142.5 million in cash immediately, with the rest included in the deal. Philippe Coutinho has signed a five-and-a-half-year deal with Barca and has a buyout clause of around $750 million,BBC Sportreport

Coutinho joined Liverpool in the same winter transfer window, in January 2013 for just over $11 million at the time. The Brazilian attacker missed the FA Cup match against Everton to complete the paperwork. Barca also announced that they would soon announce Coutinho.

The deal to bring Coutinho to Barca is the third most valuable in the world after Neymar ($263 million) and Kylian Mbappe (loan with a buyout fee of 225 million) both from PSG.

This was a predictable ending even though Liverpool had rejected Barca three times in the summer of 2017. Barca's third offer was $160 million, including $40 million in additional terms such as Coutinho winning the Ballon d'Or in the future.

So to get the 25-year-old star, Barca must pay more than 30 million dollars. This can be explained when Coutinho is still in the 5-year contract signed with Liverpool in January 2017.

"Coutinho expressed his desire to leave as soon as Barca approached him in July 2017. He was determined to complete the deal and shared this with me, the owner and his teammates," said coach Jurgen Klopp. "The team did everything to convince Coutinho to stay but it was not successful. We appreciate what Coutinho has contributed and wish him success."

Before Coutinho arrived at Barca, information about the deal was leaked when the Catalan team's shirt manufacturer shared pictures of Coutinho. In addition, Liverpool's $100 million purchase of center-back Van Dijk also reinforced the possibility that they would sell Coutinho to balance their finances.

Moving to Barca, Coutinho can only play in domestic competitions and cannot participate in Champions League matches. In the round of 16, Barca will face Juventus.