German giants Bayern Munich has officially confirmed the signing of Brazilian attacker Philippe Coutinho from Spanish side Barcelona on a season-long loan deal with an option to make it a permanent one.
The La Liga club claims that the Bundesliga side will be paying up €8.5 million to sign the Brazilian attacker on loan with the option to buy remain at €120 million.
And ad expected of a loan deal, the Bavarians will be paying for Coutinho’s wages throughout his stay with the German club.
Speaking on his arrival to the club, Coutinho said: “In Barcelona, a lot of things did not turn out as we had imagined.
“But this is now history. I hope to stay here for a long time and win many titles.”
On his arrival to the club, he was handed the number 10 jersey which was previously worn by club legend Arjen Robben which he claims come with a responsibility.
He continued: “The jersey of FC Bayern and the number 10 is a big responsibility.
“It belonged to Robben, he was a great reference in football. I hope to be able to live up to expectations with good football on the pitch.”
Having been excluded from the team lineup and bench, Coutinho had to watch as Barcelona was handed their first defeat of the season from Athletic Bilbao on Friday.
He joined the Catalan giants from Champions League winners Liverpool during the winter transfer window back in 2018 for a fee reported to be £142 million.
Since joining the Catalonia club, Coutinho didn’t live up to what was expected from him as he struggled to seal a place in the La Liga club’s first team, in spite of scoring 21 goals and creating 11 assists in 76 appearances for the club. Most footballpredictions didn’t expect such a poor performance by the Brazilian star.
After not being able to meet up with Ernesto Valverde standards, the Brazilian was reported to be linked with various European giants as Barcelona was rumored to have included him as part of a deal to bring back former player Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain. Reports claim that Barcelona was offering the Ligue 1 giants €100 million-plus Coutinho for the prolific forward.
English club Tottenham Hotspur were also keen on acquiring the signature of the Brazilian but both parties failed to agree on a loan deal, having been linked to Arsenal and former club Liverpool.
Following his arrival at Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said via BBC: “We have been working with Philippe Coutinho for some time and are very happy that we were able to realize this transfer now.
“Our thanks to FC Barcelona for agreeing to this transfer. In Philippe, a player comes to FC Bayern who will strengthen our offense with his creativity and excellent technique.”
Coutinho, who began his professional football career with Serie A club Inter Milan before joining Liverpool back in 2013, has been able to win one Coppa Italia, one Supercoppa Italiana, two La Liga, one Spanish Cup, and one Spanish Super Cup.
