Philippe Coutinho says that Liverpool "did all they could" to keep him at the club. TheBrazilian joined Barcelona in a deal worth £142m on Friday, having pursued the playerduring the summer.
Coutinho was officially unveiled as a Barcelona player on Monday and he told a pressconference that the Premier League club did everything in their power to persuade him tostay with them.
"I just want to thank the club for its patience and its effort," Coutinho said of Barcelona’spursuit of him. "I'm very happy, this is a dream come true for me and I hope to live up to theexpectations.
"Liverpool understood that it was what I wanted," he continued. "They did all they could to tryto keep me, but in the end they understood that it was my dream, and the dream of myfamily, to come here.
"I just would like to thank all the fans, all the staff and all the players for the years I livedthere. For sure, I gave everything I could. Unfortunately we could not win but I lived [inLiverpool] for five years and my family was very happy there. So I just would like to thankthem and wish them all the best."
The player is unperturbed to be cup tied from Champions League matches for the rest of theseason, "I won't be able to play some matches now, but it's a five-year contract, so I'll haveplenty of time to help the club in the future. Sometimes you don't get another opportunity likethis, to join Barcelona, so I didn't think twice."