Courtinho picks Barca shirt number 7

Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho will complete a move to Barcelona in the next few days, according to reports in the Spanish media.

Reports on Tuesday suggested the La Liga giants have launched their biggest bid yet for Coutinho, with Liverpool’s reported offer to raise his wages again and offer him the long-term Reds captaincy deemed to fail.
Indeed, reports in Barcelona-based newspaper Sport believe the transfer has been agreed with the move expected to go through before the end of the week. Their headline simply translates to ‘Coutinho very very close’.

Sport go on say that there will be a meeting in England to finalise details of the transfer in the coming days and, in claiming the Brazilian does not want to play for Liverpool anymore, the Reds have been left with little option but to secure the best possible deal for their star player.

And according to Marca, the deal for Coutinho will break a number two transfer records in Spain. Firstly, the €110million up front, plus €40million in add-ons, will represent a club-record signing for Barcelona – beating the €105million they paid Borussia Dortmund for Ousmane Dembele over the summer.

Secondly, the deal will also shatter the current record for a January signing in Spain. That currently belongs to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Real Madrid, who paid €27m to sign him from Ajax way back in 2009.

Further reports in Spain claim Coutinho has also already chosen his squad number at Barcelona, with the Brazilian set to inherit the No 7 shirt, which will soon be vacated by Turkey star Arda Turan, who will leave the Nou Camp this month.