One of the Premier League's most draining transfer speculations has finally come to an end; Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho has joined Barcelona.
Shortly after setting a transfer record of their own with the purchase of Virgil van Dijk, Coutinho now becomes the most-expensive player ever purchased from a Premier League club - £142 million the decided figure according to reports.
Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona agreed.. more on @TeleFootball soon.
— Jason Burt (@JBurtTelegraph) January 6, 2018
Coutinho to Barcelona done. £142m.
— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) January 6, 2018
Embarking on a winter break to Dubai, Coutinho was reported not to have traveled with Liverpool today, thus fueling the rumours that a deal with Barcelona had been reached.
Coutinho, who has been an integral part of Liverpool's season thus far, will now notably take no further part in a Champions League campaign that many Liverpool fans had hoped would halt his departure until the summer window.
Ineligible to feature for Barcelona due to his appearances in the competition for Liverpool this season, some will wonder why the Brazilian did not indeed see out the remainder of the season with the Reds.
After finally completing the signing of their own highly-sought after target Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool fans will wonder whether the club has cut of it's nose to spite it's face with the confirmation of Coutinho's departure.
With the astronomical fee included, fans of Liverpool will now look to who the club intends to seek out as a replacement for the Brazilian.
Both Monaco's Thomas Lemar and Leicester City's Premier League winning Riyad Mahrez are two early names being spoken of as adequate replacements for Coutinho.
However, with Arsenal equally keen on the prospect of replacing Alexis Sanchez with the young Frenchman, Mahrez may move to the top of Klopp's wishlist.
For Leicester City's Claude Puel however, losing Mahrez is doubtlessly not something he would wish to happen in this window.
Although the prospect of losing Coutinho was a reality many Liverpool fans had long since resigned themselves to, the reaction thus far has been largely negative - as one would expect.
