This is the kind of thing that really makes a mockery of the claims that Barca merely act like all clubs act. They are utterly classless and shameless. Even after they finally get a player after negotiating behind his employer's back for months, still they just cannot shut the feck up:
9 JANUARY 2018
Liverpool have rubbished Barcelona’s claim the Mereyside club sold Philippe Coutinho for a ‘reduced’ fee as the £142 million signing was finally unveiled at the Nou Camp.
Having won the fight for his signature, Barcelona sought to gain another political victory by stating they paid less than they were quoted for the Brazilian last summer.
Liverpool sources familiar with the negotiations are adamant that is not the case because no price was ever proposed by the club’s owners Fenway Sports Group. Barca’s suggestion does not tally with the Merseyside club’s firm position that there was no fee which would have forced the 25-year-old’s sale last summer.
Liverpool would not entertain negotiations with the Catalan club until recently, a position they made clear in a club statement last August and from which they never shifted in the last transfer window.
Negotiations over a fee were only concluded shortly before Coutinho’s exit, with the player himself making a financial contribution of £11.5 million to ensure the valuation was met. However the money was raised, Liverpool’s asking price of 160 million euros was agreed.
That did not prevent Barcelona’s vice-president Jordi Mestre suggesting his club managed to successfully haggle.
“The club has always been interested in signing Coutinho, the difference to last summer is that there was a big cut in price,” Mestre said.
