Philippe Coutinho: Barcelona must pay €100m premium on Liverpool players until 2020

Coutinho left Anfield and joined Barcelona in January in a £142million deal after a long pursuit

Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona from Liverpool for £142million in January (Getty)

Barcelona will be required to pay a €100million (£89million) surcharge if they sign another Liverpool player before 2020, as part of Philippe Coutinho’s move to the Camp Nou earlier this year.

Coutinho joined Barcelona in January in a £142million transfer following a long and determined pursuit by the Catalonian club.

Liverpool were reluctant to let Coutinho leave, rejecting the player’s transfer request in August 2017, though eventually relented when offered the third-highest transfer fee in football history.

Negotiations between the two clubs also included a clause, brokered by Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards, which effectively prices Barcelona out of taking more players from Anfield in the medium term.

The clause, which adds a €100million premium on any prospective Liverpool player joining Barcelona, came into effect in January and runs until the end of the 2019-20 season.

Coutinho was the third player to swap Anfield for the Nou Camp in the space of eight years, following the high-profile departures of Javier Mascherano in 2010 and Luis Suarez in 2014.

Speculation has linked Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané with Barcelona in the past, though a move for any of the three players before 2020 would likely force the Catalans to break the world transfer record.