Philippe Coutinho: Barcelona chief uses Lionel Messi contract to take swipe at Liverpool

Coutinho made it clear to Liverpool during the summer transfer window he wanted to push through a move to Barcelona.

The La Liga giants made three bids that were swiftly rejected by Liverpool and Coutinho handed in a transfer request.

But Liverpool refused to entertain the thought of losing Coutinho, with the club putting out a statement to outline he was not for sale.

The absence of a release clause put Liverpool in a strong position over the transfer situation.

But Bartomeu has taken a dig at the Merseyside club for holding Coutinho against his will while commenting on Lionel Messi’s contract.

The Barcelona president insists he would never prevent a player from leaving if his desire is to do so.

“Not with Leo’s commitment to the club… Barca will never make a player stay if he tells us he wants to leave, as happens at other clubs in Europe,” Bartomeu told Diario Sport.

“We have a different way of being to other clubs.

“It doesn’t matter if the clause is €500m, €600m, €1,000m or €1,500m, we can put any clause that we want because if a player wants to leave, we will have to sit down and speak about how we will do it. 

“That’s what we lacked with Neymar. If we’d done it that way, it would have been better for everyone.”