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'Philippe Coutinho SIGNS for Barcelona': Confirmation of Liverpool transfer leaked by Nike

PHILIPPE COUTINHO has signed for Barcelona, according to the official Nike website.

By Jack Wilson
PUBLISHED: 01:29, Sun, Dec 31, 2017 | UPDATED: 01:41, Sun, Dec 31, 2017



Nike are the current kit suppliers for Barca and they are already advertising official Coutinho shirts for sale.

That's despite no confirmation yet coming from either Liverpool or Barcelona that a deal has been done.

An official release on their shop's online page yesterday read: "Philippe Coutinho is ready to light up the Camp Nou. Get your 2017/18 Barcelona kit with the Magician's name on it.

"Act fast - free personalisation only available until 6 January."

They then link to 'Shop FCB' or 'Shop Coutinho's Look'.

It's unclear whether this is a mistake by Nike, a leak of soon-to-be announced information or a website hack - although Barcelona's interest has been longstanding.

Express Sport exclusively revealed last night that Barcelona will this week try to finally agree a deal which will see them sign Coutinho for a British record £125million in the summer.

The Spanish giants will on Wednesday host a meeting when they will hope to reach an agreement with the Reds for the Brazilian playmaker.

Coutinho agreed personal terms with Barca last summer but Liverpool’s American owners Fenway Sports Group rejected all attempts to get them to sell him.

But it now seems that Barcelona will finally get their man with the only question remaining of how the deal will be financially structured.

Liverpool want a substantial upfront payment with less of the fee dependant on add ons as Barcelona originally offered in the summer.

Express Sport understands that both clubs are keen to settle the deal for once and all so doesn’t drag on until the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

Coutinho, 25, handed in a transfer request in the summer as he tried to push through a move to the Nou Camp.

But the Reds held firm and rebuffed offers from the Catalan club.

Coutinho was made Barca’s top target after Neymar shocked the footballing world in a £200m deal to Paris St-Germain.

But the club were forced into signing their second priority replacement Ousmane Dembele from Dortmund for £135.5m.

Barcelona made it clear they would go for Coutinho again in the winter.

Chief executive Oscar Grau said in October: “We are ready to buy Coutinho in the winter market, or any player the technical staff request.

“But it is important to adjust ourselves, so if there are to be arrivals, there must be exits as well.

“We must forget about the price paid for Neymar last summer.

“After taxes we received about €188m in income and a direct financial impact on the club’s treasury of €144m.”

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/898361/Philippe-Coutinho-Liverpool-Barcelona

Whilst there are fans who just want rid, there are a heck of a lot of fans who want us to hold on to Coutinho at least until the summer!

FSG are digging a huge hole for themselves if they allow Coutinho to go now, especially after Klopp has been fairly vocal that we do not need to sell. Making him Captain also sends out all the wrong signals to us fans.

Imagine if Coutinho goes now and also Can to Juventus, that could really scupper any further progression in the CL, PL and The FA Cup! It's seems suicidal to me, even if we get the likes of Keita in early or/& sign Lemar or/& bring in Goretzka, our whole dynamic will immediately change of having to bed in new players. We could seriously be without CL next season if Coutinho is allowed to go now and no amount of money Barcelona are willing to stump up is going to rectify that!

I can't imagine the club would sell him without having a replacement lined up?

As for Chan, the way he has been strolling around the pitch and only occasionally contributing, it is pretty obvious he wants to go.

Maybe we can grab Rakitic from Barca?

It's pretty certain that he will go.

I think everyone assumed it would be the summer.

But I don't think they'd turn down £130mil

It makes no sense to do it in January but £130m would be hard for anyone to turn down for any player. I just hope it’s over quickly one way or the other so we’re not too distracted by it.

If he’s going in January then we need a replacement before he goes. Draxler rumoured to be available at 40m seems the obvious replacement. Lemar also linked but seems much more expensive

There are no equivalent or obvious replacement players. If there were, Barca wouldn't be so interested in giving us the money. We have two special players, around which to build for the future. We either invest in dreams and irrational attachments (ie support a football club) or we support a business plan. I'm sick of hearing that we have to sell a player with a 5 year contract and no release clause. If we sell Coutinho, I don't see how we can be as good. If I were Mo Salah, I'd be angling for a move asap, if Coutinho leaves. He wants to win things, Klopp wants to win things. It must be the same for all the players.

The hangover of Suarez's departure is still niggling the club, I think. We've not properly got over it. I don't want that all over again.

I'd rather Coutinho stays and sulks, than leaves. In these circumstances, our dreams are more important than his personal ambition. Someone needs to take him for a tour of the less affluent parts of town and show why he needs to stay.

Out of curiosity, would we have grounds to sue Nike over this? We could argue that them releasing the news means we’ll now face higher fees for any replacement we go for, where as had they said nothing then we could have got a replacement in for cheap before announcing we had all this money coming in.

If we don't sell him, we don't have to sue anyone.