Philippe Coutinho is set to make his 100 th appearance for Barcelona but contrary to previous reports, Liverpool will not receive an extra payment for the Brazilian.
The Brazilian playmaker completed his transfer from the Reds to the Camp Nou in January 2018 for a reported fee of £142million – a record sale for an English club.
As is increasingly common in football the deal for Coutinho was highly convoluted, with the cost of the move spread across multiple payments, objectives and potential performance-related add-ons.
Early reports around the deal had outlined that the Reds would be owed a payment add-on of €20million (£17m) when Coutinho would make his 100 th appearance for the Catalan club.
That landmark looks set to be reached this week as Barca play Rayo Vallecano, as Coutinho made a cameo appearance in Ronald Koeman’s side El Clasico defeat to Real Madrid.
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Yet that is not the case with both Barca and Liverpool denying that such a clause existed in the deal, even though a payment structure based on appearances had been agreed.
Liverpool were paid £4.4million for every 15 appearances the former Inter player made with Barca, ending with his 90th appearance for the club last season.
There are still outstanding payments on Barca’s end that are relating to the deal that the Catalan giants will need to pay – but the Reds are not set to receive any extra money.
That is because they already cashed-in on the clause section of the agreement by selling the value of that deal to a third company.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool, has previously explained: "It is fairly common to have these things done in business.
"Barcelona still technically owe the money to Liverpool, that is why is shows up as such in the accounts, but what happens is that the money is paid and Liverpool then send that on to the third party who has bought the debt.
"Liverpool have received all the money owed for Coutinho, but Barcelona have not yet paid it all."
The Merseyside club’s decision to secure a fixed payment from those discussed add-ons helped sanction a spending spree for the club over 2018.
Central defender Virgil van Dijk arrived that January before Alisson Becker, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri were among the arrivals the following summer.
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While Liverpool went on to win the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League title the following year, Coutinho has struggled to nail down a starting spot at the Camp Nou.
He spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan at Bayern Munich – helping them to the Champions League crown – but returned to Barca last year and has suffered with fitness problems since.
The former Inter playmaker remains Barca’s most expensive ever signing.
