Barcelona reportedly rejected Liverpool’s offer of reaching an agreement on Philippe Coutinho as they weren’t prepared to accept their demands.
The Catalan giants were heavily linked with a move for the Brazilian international all summer, but ultimately as the deadline passed on Friday night in Spain, they were unable to reach an agreement.
According to Mundo Deportivo though, Liverpool were prepared to allow Coutinho to leave Anfield, but the terms of their offer weren’t considered acceptable by Barcelona.
It’s claimed that they worked until late into the night on strengthening the squad, with Liverpool demanding that they pay a fixed fee of €160m for Coutinho with a view of him joining Barca in January.
The La Liga giants refused and withdrew their bid, with their last offer reaching the €160m demanded, but with various bonuses which ensured that the deal was made up of either €110m up front with €50m in add-ons or €120m with €40m in bonuses to split the payments up.
In turn, Barcelona decided to drop their interest for now as they weren’t willing to meet Liverpool’s request, and so it remains to be seen whether or not the situation is revisited in January.
Meanwhile, Mundo Deportivo also report that Barcelona refused an option to sign Angel Di Maria from Paris Saint-Germain, as they French outfit similarly made unrealistic demands in the eyes of Barca.
It’s reported that they wanted €80m for the Argentine international, but with Barca unwilling to pay such a fee, that deal collapsed too leaving them empty-handed on transfer deadline day.
Having signed Nelson Semedo, Paulinho and Ousmane Dembele while bringing Gerard Deulofeu back, Ernesto Valverde and Co have been active this summer, but time will tell if it’s enough.