Philippe Coutinho’s switch to Bayern Munich will see Liverpool miss out on just €5m (£4.5m) of the transfer fee they agreed with Barcelona last January.
Eighteen months on from forcing an Anfield exit to secure his dream move to Catalonia, the Brazilian has joined Bayern on loan with a view to a permanent deal worth €120m (£111m) next summer.
Coutinho’s departure from Camp Nou comes after he failed to both show his best form or nail down a regular starting berth under Ernesto Valverde.
But, despite reports to the contrary, Standard Sport understands the 27-year-old’s struggles in Spain have had little effect on the size of the fee received by Liverpool for his transfer.
Once Jurgen Klopp showed willingness to sanction Coutinho’s sale, club chiefs began negotiations that would see the Spanish champions agree to pay a total package worth €160m (£146m) for his purchase.
The Reds were guaranteed to receive €120m (£111m) of that fee, with the remaining €40m (£36m) made up of realistic add-ons, many of which have since been triggered.
Barca have since paid out €10m (£9m) in Champions League-related bonuses after reaching last season’s semi-finals, where they were - somewhat ironically - knocked out by Liverpool.
Meanwhile, the remaining €30m (£27m) of the deal was made up of appearance targets, and just €5m of those had failed to be reached before the player’s move to Bayern Munich.
Should he make the switch to Germany permanent, Liverpool will still have banked an incredible €155m (£141m) in total from his sale.
The contrast between Coutinho’s fortunes and those of his former teammates in the past year-and-half has served to further highlight the value of Liverpool’s oft-vaunted sporting director Michael Edwards.
The Reds’ transfer chief stood firm when Barcelona first moved for Coutinho in July 2017, rejecting a €70m offer including a clause relating to the player winning the Ballon d’Or.
And the decision to reinvest the eye-watering figure eventually received into bringing the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker to Anfield was vindicated by last year’s Champions League success.
