Coutinho's purge is almost complete – on May 10, Fernando Poirot, deputy editor of the Barça district of The World Sports, confirmed that Barca was about to sell Coutinho to Villa for 15 million to 20 million euros. For Barca, this is to get rid of the baggage, and it is also the worst deal in history...
In January, Barca loaned Coutinho to Villa. The contract stipulates that Villa can buy out Coutinho for 40 million euros (not mandatory).
Under Gerrard, Coutinho scored four goals in 15 Premier League games and delivered three assists, becoming a key member of Villa. Western media optimistically estimate that Villa will pay 40 million euros to buy out the 29-year-old Coutinho.
It's just Barca's wishful thinking. Poirot, deputy editor-in-chief of the Barca district of The World Sports, pointed out that Villa really admired Coutinho, and Gerald also asked the club to sign the Coutinho. However, the price of 40 million euros is too high, and Villa can only pay 15 million to 20 million euros.
Barca can only budge and accept Villa's offer, and once the transfer is completed, Barca will suffer an unprecedented loss: in January 2018, Barca poached Coutinho from Liverpool for a fixed transfer fee of 120 million euros and a floating transfer fee of 40 million euros (currently paying a total of 140 million). Four years later, Barca will sell it for less than 20 million euros!
140 million in, 20 million in sales, a loss of 120 million in a single drawdown – this will be a trade that has never been done in Barca's history.
Still, the pro-Barca-based Newspaper Sport of the World applauded the deal. First, Barça can receive a transfer fee of 20 million euros, and second, Barça can save on salary expenses. Coutinho plays at Villa, where Barca pay 35 percent of their salary, or 7 million euros before taxes. If Coutinho returns to Barca this summer, the club will have to pay an annual salary of 20 million euros before tax. One after another, Barça provinceed 40 million.
Of course, all this is the pot of former Barca president Bartomeu. Four years ago, Barca saw Coutinho as Neymar's successor, paying an annual salary of 20 million euros before taxes and setting a penalty of 400 million euros. Unexpectedly, Barca bought a pseudo-giant: Coutinho only played 106 games for Barca, contributing 25 goals and 14 assists, not as good as another billionaire Dembele (32 goals and 32 assists in 148 games).
From either point of view, Coutinho is firmly in the position of "the worst reinforcement in Barca's history". From an economic point of view, Barca have lost 120 million euros, a huge loss; in terms of on-field performance, Coutinho is not as good as Dembele. Liverpool used the transfer fee from the sale of Coutinho to bring in Alisson and Van Dijk and embark on the road to revival, which is a harsh contrast.