After months of speculation, Philippe Coutinho is finally a Barcelona player.The Brazilian has been linked with a move to the Nou Camp ever since the summer with Liverpool showing remarkable stubbornness to hold onto their star man for four more months. Monster nine figure bids and a transfer request were no match for the Reds' resolve.Failing attempts to persuade the 25-year-old to remain at Anfield brought a sense of defeat around the club, though, with negotiations flowing freely in January. “Philippe was insistent with me, the owners and even his teammates this was a move he was desperate to make happen," Jurgen Klopp revealed on Saturday.“Despite that, we managed to keep the player here beyond the summer window, hoping that we would be able to persuade him to stay and be part of what we are looking to do.
Liverpool sell Coutinho for £142 million
“I can tell the Liverpool supporters that we, as a club, have done everything within our means to convince Philippe that remaining part of LFC was as attractive as moving to Spain."
The moral of the story: you really can't fault Liverpool for effort.
Nevertheless, Coutinho is now a player of the past for Liverpool who need to assess how they will handle the gargantuan £142 million fee they've received in return.
In opinion of some, the price tag is rather inflated for Coutinho who now rubs shoulders with the crazy transfers for Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
The ever-controversial Joey Barton has even suggested on Twitter that Liverpool bagged themselves a great deal and inadvertently sparked a series of debates with his subsequent musing.
Joey Barton splits Twitter in two
Take a look at the initial tweet:
In layman's terms, Barton believes that players such as Harry Kane, Eden Hazard and Mohamed Salah would go for absolutely astronomical fees if Coutinho's price is set at the lofty £142m mark.
The ex-Burnely man does raise an interesting point and encouraged fans to debate superiority between some of the Premier League's finest players.
In fact, his first post was so controversial, with a great number of Kopites disagreeing, that he uploaded a series of tweets declaring Hazard as a far better player than Coutinho.
Check out his follow-up tweets and the fallout:
Barton started a vote on Twitter
Interestingly, Coutinho received 40 per cent of the vote with Hazard accumulating the remaining votes in a close ballot that led Barton to justify his opinion in typically blunt fashion.
Nevertheless, given the direction of the transfer market, for the simple fact that any Hazard departure would take place years in the future, his fee could be unreal.
Who would you rather have in your team - Coutinho or Hazard? Have your say in the comments section below.