The maximum mandator of the FC Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, recognised in front of the media that attended to the presentation of Philippe Coutinho that several clubs wanted to fichar to the Brazilian player, by what the Barça had to compete with them economically in spite of that the Liverpool showed reacio initially to sell to the player.
The insistence of Coutinho in recalar in the Barça was key so that at the end it finish fraguando the signing. "Philippe was happy to come here, was one of his aims, and his patience has been decisive so that it came here", began the president of the FC Barcelona, appreciating besides the effort to the footballer and also the acceptance of the group 'network'. "I want to appreciate to the Liverpool that left to go out to Coutinho".
"It does us a lot of illusion to the culés know to Philippe Coutinho, a player that from the past summer have tried that it was here", added Bartomeu. "All our technical team, Pep Safe, Robert Fernández and Ernesto Valverde, wanted and saw necessary to the player. It has not been easy", remembered also the Barcelona president.
Coutinho Will be a lot of years in the Barça
"It is one of the stars of the world-wide football and will be here a lot of years", defined him, standing out the interest of other clubs in doing with his services, surely one of them the Real Madrid. "There were other clubs interested in Coutinho, but had many win to incorporate to the project of Ernesto Valverde. We step very important. It has come surrounded of his family", concluded Bartomeu.
Without place to doubts, so much Bartomeu like the rest of the technical office and the directive of the FC Barcelona are very happy with the denouement of the operation, that allows to close a 'serial' of six months since the Barça showed publicly his interest in Coutinho. The player, by his part, also is radiant for having achieved recalar in the club of his dreams.