Barcelona are just ‘a matter of hours’ away from signing Philip Coutinho from Liverpool, according to reports in Spain.
Sport say that Barca’s representatives travelled to Liverpool on Tuesday to conclude a deal and are aiming to unveil the 25-year-old as their new signing later week.
They also claim that Liverpool’s owners have agreed to sell. Poor Jurgen Klopp.
Philippe Coutinho could be unveiled as a Barcelona player by Tuesday, with the Catalan club confident their latest €100 million (£90.2m) offer meets Liverpool’s demands.
Barca sped up negotiations for a new attacker after Neymar moved to PSG in a £198m deal, and they immediately targeted compatriot Coutinho as his replacement.
Having had an initial approach rejected, reports claim that the player is just hours away from moving to Camp Nou if everything goes to plan.
Coutinho has long been on Barca’s agenda and Liverpool have been braced to lose the Brazilian, but deliberately delayed the deal until Barca’s coffers had been boosted by Neymar’s departure.
That has allowed the Merseysiders to drive a very hard bargain, extracting an extra €20m (£18m) from the Spanish giants – and thus making him the Premier League’s most expensive sale ever.
Coutinho has already agreed a five-year deal with Barca that will keep him at the club until June 2022, and is waiting to travel to Barca for his medical as soon as Liverpool give him the green light.
While Jurgen Klopp has been reluctant to let Coutinho go, he recognises that the fee Liverpool have managed to negotiate is too good to turn down.
Barca are also thought to be closing in on Real Sociedad centre-back Inigo Martinez and Borussia Dortmund winger Ousmane Dembele as they prepare for life after Neymar.
It had been reported that the now world’s most expensive player had wanted Coutinho to join him at PSG, but he has instead opted to replace his good friend – who he has played with for Brazil since they were 14 – at Barcelona.
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