Liverpool demanded 200m for Coutinho: Barcelona

Barcelona: A leading Barcelona board member claimed Liverpool set an asking price of 200 million euros ( 238 million) for midfielder Philippe Coutinho as the Catalan giants criticised the rampant inflation in the football transfer market on Saturday. Albert Soler, Barca's director of institutional relations, said the club's under-fire board would not put the future of the institution at risk by bending to excessive demands. "Liverpool put a price of 200 million euros on a player that we wanted," Soler told reporters at a press conference held to explain Barca's haphazard signing policy this summer.

Barca ended the window making a slight profit on transfers after receiving a world record 222 million euros from Neymar's move to Paris Saint-Germain. Despite splashing over 190 million on five signings, most notably 105 million euros on 20-year-old French winger Ousmane Dembele, Soler claimed Barca wouldn't been drawn into an arms race with the cash-rich Premier League and Qatar-backed PSG. "We didn't want to put at risk the heritage of the club This is a club of 150,000 members and has to be managed with coherence and responsiblity," added Soler."We won't get involved in the game of a market that has lost its way."