According to a report in Marca, Liverpool may be set to miss out on a €20 million (£18 million) injection of funds from Barcelona as a part of the Phillipe Coutinho deal.
The £142m deal to take the Brazilian to Camp Nou understandable had some clauses and add-ons attached to it, and one of those was reportedly a €20 million appearance bonus that was due to be paid upon Coutinho making his 100th appearance for La Blaugrana.
The La Liga giants have used Coutinho 90 times so far, and it looked as though Liverpool were set to receive a hefty financial windfall later this year, but now it seems as though things may have changed.
Indeed, Coutinho has just undergone knee surgery and he’s not expected to be back until late April, by which time there will may be less than 10 games of the season to go, meaning that this €20 million clause isn’t triggered.
The report goes onto state that Coutinho could be sold this summer, meaning that he will never reach 100 appearances for Barca, thus denying the Reds this payday.
Of course, he could come back ahead of schedule, or he could stay on beyond this summer, but the fact of the matter is that he’s been out of favour at Barca for some time now, being loaned out to Bayern Munich last season, and the links with a move away from Barcelona haven’t gone away in recent times, so a move in the summer is seemingly possible.
Liverpool may be an elite football club with cash to burn, but £18 million isn’t a figure that any club in the world would turn their noses up at.
Hopefully, for Liverpool’s sake, Coutinho can recover quickly and get to 100 appearances for Barca.
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