PHOTOS: Barcelona players welcome Coutinho after £145m move

PHOTOS: Barcelona players welcome Coutinho after £145m move

Philippe Coutinho posed for a selfie with Luis Suarez and met his new Barcelona team-mates on Tuesday as he continued to settle in at his new club.

The Brazilian midfielder joined the Nou Camp club in a £145million move from Liverpool over the weekend, ending one of the longest-running transfer sagas in world football.

Luis Suarez had reportedly signed for a house for Coutinho in anticipation of his arrival.

 

 

And Coutinho also flagged up the opportunity to play with his compatriot Paulinho as a reason why he wanted to join the Spanish giants.

Therefore it was no surprise to see both Suarez and Paulinho in the welcoming party on Tuesday morning.

Suarez wrote on his Twitter, alongside the selfie: ‘WELCOME my friend @Phil_Coutinho how nice is to share team with you again. Lots of success in this new stage, we will achieve them all together!’

 

 

Coutinho himself said on Monday: ‘(Suarez and I) almost won the Premier League together at Liverpool [in 2014], it was a great time. We are good friends and he wrote me a lot of messages telling me about the city and the club. It just made me want to come here even more.

‘He (Suarez) saw that a house next to his became available. He didn’t know I was coming for certain, but he liked the idea. It is a kind gesture. We’ve seen the pictures, it looks amazing. We are in touch all the time and I know Luis will help us to feel at home.’

 

 

Barcelona stalwart Gerard Pique, often considered to be one of the bigger voices in the dressing room, was also snapped greeting his new team-mate.

Coutinho has already expressed his delight at the move, admitting that there was no other club in the world he would have been so keen to leave Liverpool for.

That much was clear as he was unveiled on Monday. The 25-year-old was all smiles throughout his tour of the Nou Camp.

 

 

 

He was shown the club museum, pressed his name on a Barcelona shirt and did the traditional kick-ups on the hallowed turf of the famous ground.

Coutinho is still waiting to find out which squad number he will be assigned at Barcelona, with his usual No 10 already occupied by the unmovable Lionel Messi.

There are suggestions he could be given the No 14. That would be a partial tribute to the legendary Johan Cruyff, although the Dutch wizard never wore that number during his time in Catalonia.

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