Jose Mourinho believes Barcelona would have signed Philippe Coutinho this summer if Neymar hadn’t joined Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee.
The Manchester United manager feels PSG’s decision to spend £200 million on the Brazil international has changed the transfer market ‘for the worse in terms of prices’, and now claims the value of every player has markedly increased.
Following Neymar’s departure, Barcelona attempted to sign Coutinho but their advances were rejected by Liverpool.
Barcelona have subsequently claimed that Liverpool demanded €200m (£183m) for the midfielder, and Mourinho believes a deal was possible this summer if the player’s price wasn’t inflated.
‘Neymar changed everything,’ Mourinho told The Times.
‘If the biggest transfer in history had still been [Paul] Pogba, I think Philippe Coutinho would now be in Barcelona at £101 million.’
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