Barcelona star Rakitic criticises fee being paid to sign Coutinho from Liverpool

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Barcelona are signing Coutinho from Liverpool

Philippe Coutinho is set to be presented as a Barcelona player today after clinching his move from Liverpool.

The Brazilian was pictured on Barcelona’s website wearing club training gear yesterday after a fee was agreed between the two clubs.

It has cost Barcelona a huge amount, with BBC Sport reporting the Catalan club are paying £142 million to sign him.

This is the second highest transfer of all time behind Neymar’s move to PSG, although will become the third once Kylian Mbappe’s loan to PSG is converted to become permanent this summer.

Is Coutinho worth it? Well one of his new teammates has gone on record admitting it is a tad excessive.

Midfielder Ivan Rakitic is quoted by Marca questioning the fee, although he is more than happy to have Coutinho on board.

The Croatian said: “My opinion doesn’t matter, but the price has gone a bit high, that’s what the market dictates.

“Every great player is welcome here. I congratulate the president and everyone else who made it possible for him to be here. He is one of the family now, we are going to enjoy him a lot, he’s now at the biggest club in the world.”

It’s not quite trouble in paradise already for Coutinho, but there is certainly pressure on him to produce.

Linking up with former teammate Luis Suarez and walking legend Lionel Messi should make it pretty easy for the Brazilian, but he will be held to extremely high standards.