Philippe Coutinho is set to move to Bayern Munich on loan, bringing to an end what has been an incredibly disappointing 18-month period for the player.
Having moved to Barcelona as one of football's most expensive players, expectations were for high the Brazilian at the Camp Nou. He was expected to fill the void left in the team by Andreas Iniesta, but things never really got going for him.
He was ok in his first few months at the club, but last season was a bit of a disaster. He was in and out of the team and it became increasingly obvious that he would not live up to his price tag. With the crowd having also turned on him, a transfer away this summer always seemed likely.
Barcelona tried to recoup most of the enormous fee they had paid Liverpool only 18 months ago, but there was little interest. Ultimately, they had to settle for a loan move.
The question is, will this transfer affect Liverpool? The €160million fee agreed for the player was to be paid in instalments, with some performance based bonuses also thought to be part of the deal.
Some had speculated that the English club would miss out on quite a chunk of change as a result, while others said Liverpool would be given all of the rumoured €20million loan fee forked out by Bayern.
The specifics of the finances have now been cleared up. The Liverpool Echo are reporting that Liverpool will miss out on some cash after Coutinho's Barcelona departure, but only €5million.
€155million of the fee has already been paid, meaning Jurgen Klopp's side still come out of this one smelling of roses.
They have gone from strength to strength since selling the player, using the money to sign the likes of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. While they surely have no regrets over the transfer, you'd have to imagine that Philippe Coutinho holds contrasting emotions.
