It was the most expensive signing in the history of Barcelona and today "they give it away"

The coronavirus pandemic hit hard on the coffers of Barcelona, an entity that is going through a major economic crisis. Faced with this scenario, the Catalan entity would be willing to make cash with some of its footballers to balance their finances and have money to be able to go out to the pass market in search of figures that allow them to raise the level of their squad and seduce Lionel Messi to renew his contract, which ends on June 30 (the powerful PSG would be one of those interested in signing the Argentine).

One of the clearest examples is what could happen to Philippe Coutinho, who is currently in Brazil recovering from an operation on his left knee (he will be out of it for the remainder of the season). As reported by the British newspaper The Sun, Everton is fully determined to charge for the midfielder, who would even already be looking for a house in the Liverpool area to speed up the transfer. The group Toffee, classic rival of the Reds, would put on the table about 35 million pounds, an amount equivalent to 40 million euros.

After passing through Vasco da Gama, Inter and Espanyol and shining with the Liverpool shirt, Barcelona didn't hesitate to bet on him to replace Neymar's unexpected departure to Paris Saint Germain. The Catalans made the most expensive purchase in their history, paying 120 million fixed euros (another 40 are in variables).

It is worth noting that the 28-year-old footballer, who was strongly criticized by the local press, underwent a second operation on the meniscus of his left knee, which was injured at the end of December 2020 and kept him away from the playing fields since then. Since his arrival in 2018, he could never establish himself as the undisputed owner and his irregular performance led him to go on loan to Bayern Munich, which preferred not to make use of the purchase option to acquire it.

During his time at the Culé entity, he has played 90 games, with 23 goals and 14 assists, numbers that become even more worrying if those of the current season are analyzed, where he participated in 14 games, with only 3 goals and 2 assists. Another important fact in this story, and for which Barcelona would agree to part with the native of Rio de Janeiro, is that if he plays 10 more games with the Barça shirt, the Catalans will have to pay the English some 20 million euros.