Bayern Munich have announced the signing of Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho on loan with a view to buy and the deal shows just how difficult it would have been for Tottenham to complete.
Spurs were heavily linked towards the end of the English transfer window with a move for the Brazilian, who had a brief loan spell under Mauricio Pochettino during his time at Espanyol.
However, the sheer scale of the deal that Bayern have agreed with Barcelona shows that Tottenham would not have had the capability to fit the transfer within their financial structure.
While Bayern stated that both parties have decided not to divulge details of the finances involved, Barcelona have gone and done so anyway on their official website.
The Bundesliga giants have paid a £7.8m loan fee for the 27-year-old and have agreed to pay his full wages. Coutinho was the third-highest earner at Barcelona, behind only Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, with a reported weekly wage of £240,000-a-week.
On top of that, Bayern have agreed an option to buy Coutinho for £110m, meaning a total transfer fee of £117.8m.
Were Coutinho to sign at the least a four-year deal with Bayern at the end of his one-season loan, presuming he remained on the same wages, the five-year cost would be £62.4m.
That makes for a massive combined outlay on the Brazil international of £180.2m.
Spurs broke their transfer record this summer with a move for Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele which could eventually cost £63m with the add-ons involved. They also have a loan with an option to buy deal for Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso which will result in a similar transfer fee overall.
The vast gulf between those transfers, which are far bigger than anything Spurs have done in the past, and the Coutinho deal shows just how far from doing a permanent deal they would have been.
Tottenham would have been unlikely to have simply done a loan deal for Coutinho, with the club policy geared towards permanent moves for younger players who retain their sell-on value.
Barcelona were not believed to be keen on a loan move either as they were looking to permanently remove Coutinho's salary from their wage bill, and if they had agreed to it, the loan fee would have rocketed, with some reports claiming it would have been £20m for a loan only.
The likelihood is that the Coutinho reports came from an enquiry at some point from Spurs and acted more as a smokescreen to help push Betis towards a deal for Lo Celso, particularly when they followed the loan to buy route which should help the Spanish club save money with PSG's 20 per cent sell-on clause for the Argentina international.
Pochettino made it clear this week that Tottenham are not in the same ball park right now in their development as other clubs when it comes to their transfer dealings.
"We sign players who are young and have the potential. Tanguy Ndombele only played two seasons at Lyon, didn't win anything and we brought him here to try to make him a top player," he said.
"Giovani Lo Celso on loan from Real Betis is similar. Ryan Sessegnon is more of a potential player and, of course, we signed Jack Clarke.
"When you compare with the different teams who are in the same race as us it’s a completely different way. People understand we are playing to try to win but we have different resources to fight in the same race with teams that operate in a different way."
