Philippe Coutinho to complete move to Barcelona - reports

Barcelona appear to have finally succeeded in their long pursuit of Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho.

Reports in both Spain and the UK suggest a British record fee of €160 million - with €118m up front - has been agreed for the Brazil international.

That would be a considerable increase on the €133m which the Catalan club offered and had rejected in August when they made their third unsuccessful bid of the summer.

The 25-year-old, who has not played since the transfer window opened because of a thigh problem, did not travel with the squad for their warm weather training camp in Dubai.

It is now claimed he is travelling to Spain tonight ahead of his presentation tomorrow.

Liverpool have been contacted but they have yet to comment.

Speculation has been growing about a renewed bid for several days after Coutinho’s bid to force a move in the summer by handing in a transfer request failed to provoke a response.