Liverpool ‘negotiated this much’ clause’ in Coutinho sale

Business is just business. Spanish giants Barcelona will have to pay an £89million premium on top of any transfer fees if they try to buy a Liverpool player in the next few years, according to reports.

The Red reluctantly allowed Philippe Coutinho to join the Catalan giants for £142million last January and it is now understood that they took preventative measures to make sure there is no repeat.

Chris Bascombe writes in the Daily Telegraph that ‘during negotiations, Anfield sporting director Michael Edwards insisted on a €100 million (£89m) premium on top of any transfer fee if Barcelona try to lure any more Liverpool players in the next few years.’

That means the likes of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane – who the Spanish giants have been linked with – would be sold for their market value plus another £89million if Barcelona were interested. A fee of £150million would turn into £239million and so on.

Negotiations between Liverpool and Barcelona were “not amicable” with the Reds at one point “threatening to report their European rivals to Fifa for an alleged illegal approach.”

However, it all came to a head when Jurgen Klopp decided to sanction Coutinho’s move to Spain, knowing that he would be able to use funds to improve his squad.

Before that, Luis Suarez was the last player to make the switch from Anfield to the Camp Nou in 2014.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *