BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona says it rejected a last-minute offer from Liverpool to sell midfielder Philippe Coutinho for 200 million euros ($237 million) the Spanish club on Friday, the final day of the transfer window. It had reportedly offered Liverpool a similar sum to the deal that it reached with Borussia Dortmund for France winger Ousmane Dembele last week. Dembele’s transfer cost 105 million euros ($124 million) with add-ons that could take the final price to 147 million euros ($173 million). Liverpool’s proposal of 200 million euros for Coutinho would have brought it close to the world-record fee of 222 million euros ($262 million) that Paris Saint-Germain paid Barcelona to trigger the buyout clause in Neymar’s contract last month. Barcelona had said it wanted to buy “one or possibly two players” before the close of the transfer window in Spain on Friday, but it made no acquisitions after the signing of Dembele on Aug. 25.

Source: National Post September 02, 2017 12:38 UTC