Barcelona force Liverpool to overpay Philippe Coutinho with massive new contract

Barcelona forced Liverpool to give Coutinho a massive contract

Liverpool fans are delighted with news of Philippe Coutinho’s new contract, but it represents a significant gamble for their favorite club. It’s quite possible that handing the Brazilian such a massive deal will backfire on Jurgen Klopp’s club. It will, at least, keep him away from Barcelona in the short-term.

The Mirror are reporting that Coutinho will sign a new five-year deal with Liverpool in the coming days. Allegedly, his new deal will make him the highest paid player in the club’s storied history. The Reds will provide Coutinho a contract worth well over £200 thousand per week.

For those of you keeping score, that means that Klopp is sanctioning a contract that will exceed what Luis Suarez earned at Anfield. Obviously, that puts the talented attacker in rarefied air. It will heap an immense amount of pressure on Coutinho to produce week-in and week-out.

In fairness to the higher-ups at Liverpool, they didn’t have much of a choice here. Barcelona were reportedly expressing interest in Coutinho through a variety of back channels. If Liverpool didn’t move quickly to tie him up with a new deal, they were going to face a long summer of speculation linking him with a move to Spain. Such speculation could have done a great deal of damage to Klopp’s project.