Barcelona have claimed that Liverpool set a €200m price for Philippe Coutinho on transfer deadline day that the club were not willing to meet. Barcelona had previously had three bids for the player turned down this summer.
Liverpool always publicly insisted they would not sell at any price, but Barca now claim Liverpool set a price on deadline day that Barcelona were not willing to meet. Coutinho was playing for Brazil against Ecuador shortly after the window shut.
Barcelona’s sporting director Albert Soler claimed: “Yesterday at the last minute, after weeks of offers and conversations, Liverpool put a price on a player that we wanted. A price of €200m and we decided not to do it.
“This club will not enter into this new way of understanding football. This club belongs to its members and we will not act irresponsibly. Our priority are always sporting matters, but we have to manage our finances and there are limits that you cannot go beyond.”
