Philippe Coutinho hails Barcelona as the BEST club in the world
PHILIPPE COUTINHO says he has joined the biggest club in the world after completing his £142million move to Barcelona.
The Brazilian was unveiled at the Nou Camp yesterday in front of more than 7,000 fans after completing his British record switch from Liverpool.
Coutinho amazingly shelled out £11.5m of his own money to make sure his dream move went through – the second biggest fee in history.
“I’m very happy, it’s a dream come true and I hope to be up to the job on the field,” he said. “I’ve dreamed of playing here many times. This is the most important club of all and great Brazilian players have been here and I hope to be able to contribute with more success.
“Barca are the best club in the world, great idols of mine played here or are playing here. It was an easy decision.
“It’s very emotional for me to wear the shirt of the most important club in the world. I am anxious to get going.”
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Coutinho will have to wait up to three weeks to make his debut due to a thigh injury and he will not be able to feature in the Champions League for the rest of this season as he already played in the competition for Liverpool.
“My dream was to come here and these opportunities are unique and I had no doubts,” he said. “Even though I can’t play now in the Champions League, I will be able for the next five years
“I would like to thank Liverpool for the five years I had there and the directors, Mike Gordon who understood what I wanted, my dream, and they tried very hard to convince me to stay.”
Barca are the best club in the world, great idols of mine played here or are playing here
Barca have been chasing Coutinho since last summer and vice-president Jordi Mestre said: “The difference is that there has been a substantial reduction in the cost of this transfer.
“There has been a very important reduction, even though we cannot publicly give the figures.
“Philippe, welcome. We know that you have made a personal and economic effort.”
In Liverpool the focus is now on how boss Jurgen Klopp will reinvest the £142m in his squad.
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Last time a key Liverpool player left for Barcelona was in 2014 when Luis Suarez signed for £75m.
Then boss Brendan Rodgers splashed out £107m in the same transfer window on Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Lazar Markovic, Alberto Moreno, Emre Can, Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert.
The two men brought in to replace Suarez’s goals – Balotelli and Lambert – failed to make any impact and left while Markovic has barely featured.
Express Sport revealed on Monday that Klopp is trying to bring forward Naby Keita’s arrival from Leipzig by six months.
