The true cost of the Coutinho deal and what the Reds could stand to lose

The Echo have penned a piece outlining the outlay Barcelona paid for Philippe Coutinho to understand exactly how much the Reds earned from selling the 27-year-old and how the deal is broken down.

Leaving for a total package of £142 million, the sale of Coutinho made his fee the third-highest transfer in history, behind only Kylian Mbappé, and, of course, the eye-wateringly revolutionary cost of Neymar.

What is crucial – yet sometimes overlooked – is the clause that Michael Edwards wrote into the Coutinho deal when the Reds were at the negotiating table.

Edwards effectively future-proofed any further Barça approaches by agreeing a £100 million tax that would have to be paid on top of any transfer fee – that’s ruthless business.

The Echo piece is well-written and well-researched, but we’ve decided to break down the numbers in a slightly more digestible way so that you can plainly see what’s back in the Anfield coffers and what’s still to be paid.

Initial package

£106m

Add-ons = £36m

£4.3m CL 1/4 finals

£17m for 100 apps

£4.4m for every 25-game milestone

Total so far?

£123.5 million

The initial transfer was worth £106 million, plus a further £36 million in perfomance-related add-ons.

As the Echo, explain, in May, the Reds received £4.3 million after Barça reached the quarter-finals.

Of course, they never made it past the semi-finals once Gini Wijnaldum and Divock Origi had their say.

That £4.3 million clause was therefore activated to bring the running total to £110.3 million.

If Coutinho reaches 100 games for the Catalan side, the Reds would receive a payment in full of £17 million. However, his most recent appearance, a 2-1 loss to Valencia in the Copa del Rey final, was only his 75th showing for Barça.

That said, there exists an add-on which stipulates Liverpool will receive a payment of £4.4 million for every 25 games the Brazilian plays – multiplied by three, the Reds have earned £13.2 million to date.

If the 27-year-old stays at Barça this summer, the Reds could be pretty confident of landing that 17 million, 100 appearance payment to bring the aggregate sum to £127.3 million.

Essentially, the Reds have banked a total of £123.5 million for Coutinho – given these numbers and calculations – which is £18.5 million less than the actual stated fee quoted for him in 2018.

That said, he was a January arrival from Inter Milan for £8.5 million back in 2013 – comparing that figure to the purported £123.5 million we’ve already earned, well, you get the picture.

Whether Jürgen Klopp is interested in re-signing Countinho is a moot point and one that Reds fans seem split on. Regardless of what happens, only time will tell whether he remains a Barça player once the window slams shut.