Aston Villa will enjoy Coutinho until the end of this season and will have a purchase option of 40 million euros if they are satisfied with the deal. In Birmingham, the Rio de Janeiro will meet with Steven Gerrard, now coach of the villans, which coincided with his time at Liverpool. Interestingly, this operation came to an end when exactly four years had passed since Coutinho’s galactic presentation at the Camp Nou. His signing is the most expensive in the history of Barça. It meant 120 million fixed plus 40 variables and signed until 2023 at a rate of about 22 kilos gross per course.
As Coutinho has one of the most expensive contracts in the squad, the savings from his mid-season departure can be used to sign up for half of the figure that is released. The operation is part of the 1 by 2 rule, which applies to clubs that, like Barça, are overpaid. With Umtiti or Dembélé, who also have high emoluments, one could also enroll under this rule. On the other hand, if Demir, De Jong or Neto left, the savings generated would only be used to record a quarter of the amount released (rule 1 for 4). These are the mathematics that Mateu Alemany and Ferran Reverter, responsible for Barça’s sports and economic planning, must do to strengthen the team. It depends on these departures that Xavi Hernández can add cash to fight for the goals that remain until May: qualification for the Champions, Copa del Rey and Europa League.
“We’re working like crazy”
“We’re working like crazy to sign Ferran before Sunday. And if we can’t, we’ll do it before the Super Cup.” This is what the Camp Nou offices say about the race to do enough fair play financial before the end of the week to register Ferran Torres in the League. The deadline was set by the German himself at the presentation of the former Manchester City man, who is set to make his debut next week against Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup, which is being played again. in Saudi Arabia. In principle, if the paperwork is resolved before next Wednesday, there would be no medical impediments for Torres to be able to play his first minutes as a Barça player; as long as a negative test shows that the covid has passed.
With the Coutinho folder resolved in the absence of a medical check-up that the player must undergo on English soil, efforts to achieve the “push” needed to register Torres go through more modest operations, such as officially canceling the transfer of Demir , find a team for Neto Murara, get Luuk de Jong to accept a more appetizing destination than Cadiz or sign a downward expansion with Sergi Roberto. Greener is the Dembélé issue, from which a definitive answer is expected on the renewal offer. If positive, the fair play it will have even more oxygen. And if it is negative, Barça will move heaven and earth to lose sight of this winter market. One possible solution, as ARA put it, involves Manchester United and Anthony Martial.