Of course, the Coutinho saga is once again all over the Spanish media on Tuesday, which is understandable.
Whilst the Catalan pursuit is annoying for Liverpool and the English club’s fans, in Barcelona it’s a good news story – a huge potential signing in the January window.
Mundo Deportivo’s slant on Tuesday is all about the fee and how it would be made up. Barcelona have told Liverpool they’ll offer €150m in total, according to the claims, with that made up of a straight €110m fee and a further €40m in bonus payments.
The Catalan newspaper say they’ve learned the bonus payments will be in line with what was agreed with Borussia Dortmund for Ousmane Dembele. That would be €5m for each Champions League title Barcelona win, presumably for the period of Coutinho’s first contract, capped at €10m. There’s a further €5m for each ‘participation’ of Barcelona in the competition, again capped at €10m.
In the Dembele mould, Liverpool would also be paid €5m each time Coutinho plays 25 official games for Barcelona, with that payment capped at €20m.
So €20m in Champions League bonuses, half of it straightforward, and €20m in total for 100 appearances. It sounds like €140m of the €150m would be pretty much nailed on for Liverpool, which isn’t a bad price.
