Liverpool supremo hailed a ‘genius’ for clause he put in Philippe Coutinho’s transfer to Barcelona
Liverpool reluctantly sold the Brazilian in January, but a clause was reportedly included in the agreement that means Barca will have to pay mega premium for any Liverpool player before 2020
Barcelona will have to pay a €100million (£89million) premium on top of any transfer fee if they want to sign any players from Liverpool before 2020.
It has emerged this week that the Reds' sporting director, Michael Edwards, negotiated the clause as part of Philippe Coutinho's £142million move to the Nou Camp in January.
The Brazilian became the third most expensive player of all time behind Neymar and Kylian Mbappe when he made the move from Merseyside.
However, the report that, as part of the deal, Liverpool forced Barca to agree to paying an additional €100m on top of an agreed fee should they try to sign any more players from the club before 2020.
This move effectively safeguards Liverpool from having their stars cherry-picked by a club that acquired Javier Mascherano from them in 2010 before landing Luis Suarez in 2014.
Barca were rumoured to be interested in goalkeeper Simon Mignolet but if they were to make an approach, he would be available for a minimum of £89m.
Liverpool initially refused to sell Coutinho when Barca made official approaches for him in the summer of 2017 - turning down three bids for the club's former no.10.
Offers of £72m, £90m and £118m were all rejected by the Reds as Klopp fought hard to retain the creative hub of his midfield in the closing stages of the summer transfer window last year.
Coutinho handed in a transfer request on the eve of the 2017/18 campaign in an attempt to force through a move but the Reds finally gave in early in the next window.
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And to say some of the Anfield faithful are happy with the reported clause is an understatement, with a selection of them taking to Twitter to hail the sporting director.
Edwards was promoted into the role - one of the most powerful at the club in November 2016 - and, according to the club, the move was welcomed by manager Jurgen Klopp, who praised the executive's contribution and influence in helping to assemble the current playing set-up within the first team.