Squeezing every last drop out of Barcelona.
Barcelona finally got their man this week with the signing of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool but, as we all know, the Catalan club chased the Brazilian all summer.
Barca saw several bids rejected for Coutinho with Liverpool stubbornly refusing to sell their most valuable player. While that stance ultimately softened to allow him to seal his move away this weekend, Jurgen Klopp was able to hold on to him for another six months after blocking a summer exit.
And it turns out that not only did Klopp manage to keep Coutinho for as long as possible, he helped out his former club Borussia Dortmund in the summer, too. According to Raphael Honigstein, a leading German football journalist, Klopp informed Dortmund that Liverpool would not sell Coutinho to Barcelona, therefore allowing the Bundesliga club to increase Ousmane Dembele’s fee.
The promising forward eventually signed for Barcelona in a deal worth €147million. Speaking on The Totally Football Show, Honigstein said:
“Dortmund revealed that they benefited from Barca’s interest in Coutinho in the Summer. Klopp passed on a message to them to say that LFC wouldn’t sell, saying ‘don’t worry, we’re not selling Coutinho to Barcelona. So, if they come to you looking to sign Dembele, be assured that they have enough money and ask for a lot of money. They signed Dembele for a lot and topped that with Coutinho so I don’t know where that leaves with them in terms of Antoine Griezmann.”
It’s worth noting that Honigstein has written a book on Klopp (Bring the Noise), so he is closely connected to the Liverpool boss and is therefore a reliable source. It’s an interesting little nugget of information which offers some insight into the communication between top European clubs regarding transfers.
With Klopp knowing that Barcelona would be able to spend lavishly on Dembele, his message to Dortmund strengthened the German club’s position when it came to the negotiations.
