Philippe Coutinho is about to join Barcelona.
The Brazilian will become the second-most expensive footballer in history, after Liverpool agreed to a deal worth £142m for the 25-year-old midfielder.
Coutinho joined Liverpool from Inter Milan in January 2013 for £8.5m and made 200 appearances for the club, scoring 54 goals.
Paul Joyce, reporter for the Times, was among several journalists who broke the story on Saturday afternoon.
https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/status/949683537048981504
https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/status/949683732931334144
https://twitter.com/JBurtTelegraph/status/949682613635239937
https://twitter.com/JamesPearceEcho/status/949685957397237760
The transfer is expected to be confirmed on Saturday evening, or possibly Sunday afternoon. It brings an end to one of the longest-running transfer sagas of recent seasons.
Coutinho wanted to join the Catalan club last summer, but Liverpool rejected three bids for him. The final bid was worth a potential £118m, yet Liverpool would only have got £36m of the fee if Coutinho reached certain milestones, such as winning the Ballon d'Or. Recent reports claimed that it would take "an improved overall offer, and a more realistic package, to start a conversation with Liverpool," and it appears that's just what happened. The midfielder is now the second-most expensive player in the history of football, behind only Neymar, who cost Paris Saint-Germain £198m from Barcelona last summer.
Liverpool were in a strong position in the situation. Coutinho had four years remaining on his contract, with no buy-out clause. However, the player pushed hard for a move this month, and Liverpool have decided to cash-in now, rather than wait until the end of the season.
Barcelona are nine-points clear at the top of La Liga, and Coutinho is ineligible to play for them in the Champions League this season.
