Barcelona is insane.
Desperate following a rough two-legged loss to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, the Blaugranas are reportedly ready to offer $176 million to Liverpool for Philippe Coutinho.
Read it again: $176 million for Philippe Coutinho. It’s about $126 million with $12 million more when Barca clinches a UCL spot over the next four seasons (which they have done every year since finishing sixth in 2002-03).
[ MORE: EFL Cup Tues. wrap ]
Even in this transfer market, that’s nuts. Crazy to offer, and maybe even crazier not to accept.
Barcelona to make new £138m bid for Philippe Coutinho. Coutinho more determined than ever to leave Liverpool. Barcelona "will never give up"
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) August 22, 2017
That’s pretty much two-thirds of the Neymar money. Two-thirds (I keep repeating myself with this story)
It’s even a convenient out for Jurgen Klopp, who’s said Liverpool is not a selling club. Here, he can say with a straight face that the club can improve with this money by selling a player who has -- and I recognize it’s not all about goals and assists -- one double-digit goal season in his career and a career single-season high of seven PL assists (done thrice).
Almost anyone who’s had the audacity to say the Reds should accept the bid has often been shot down by the Anfield faithful online. “It’ll ruin our season” and “How do we replace him this late?” are the common cries.
To the first question: No, it won’t. To the second: Easy?
It’s not like-for-like, but nearly every player in the world is available for $176 million. It’s not like-for-like, but here’s a short list: Antoine Griezmann, Gareth Bale, Paulo Dybala, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marco Reus... Shoot! Klopp could sign 2-3 of his favorite BVB alums.
With this fee, Coutinho would become the second-highest transfer fee of all-time, behind only Neymar. There are makeweights Barcelona could offer that would make the deal even more intriguing to the Reds: Arda Turan, Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez.
Look at it from a neutral’s eyes -- which I know is hard from the number of times I’ve read @ Tweets that say, “The only people who would like this deal are fans of Chelsea or United!” -- at some point, it becomes unreasonable to not take advantage of Barcelona’s desperation. Maybe Coutinho is worth the “fit” for Barca, but rejecting this fee is more illogical than the offer itself.
At the risk of inflaming every more Liverpool supporters, Ross Barkley is probably going to cost someone $35 million and he’s a year and a half younger (Coutinho is a superior player right now, but we’re talking about the market here).
And, lastly, at some point you’re telling your entire team room that you’re willing to turn down near record money -- it would be the highest non-buyout clause transfer ever -- to keep a player from his dream club.
Take the money. Use it. Move on.