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Liverpool’s former director of football Damian Comolli has claimed club owners FSG set a transfer budget of just 10m euros per player in the spring of 2012 - and they all had to be under 21.

Comolli was speaking about the deal to bring Philippe Coutinho to Liverpool, one that was finally completed in January of 2013.

Coutinho signed a new five-year deal at Liverpool last week and the £8.5m Liverpool paid Inter Milan for his services four years ago now seems a complete steal.

Comolli was sacked in April 2012, before any deal for Coutinho, but insisted the Brazilian was very much on Liverpool’s radar when he left - with Rafa Benitez playing a huge role in their decision to pursue him.

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In an exclusive interview with ESPN , Comolli said: “In the spring of 2012, the owners told me that we had a limited spending budget per player of €10 million and we could only sign players who were under 21.

“I said to the scout: ‘Coutinho becomes our priority’ because we were looking for a wide player to replace Dirk Kuyt. He (Coutinho) was not available because they transferred him to Espanyol [on loan] later on.”

That move to Espanol was under current Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino who would try to lure the Brazilian to Southampton later on, but Liverpool were not to be denied.

Not when they had a recommendation from Rafa Benitez - sacked by Inter after just six months at Christmas in 2010 - who had let Liverpool Academy director Frank McParland know of Coutinho’s potential.

Comolli added: “We didn’t even know he was that good - it was difficult to watch him play because he was never playing at Inter. We knew about him, we knew he was good, but it was only when Rafa said he’s going to be world-class.

“When somebody like Rafa says a thing about a player like this, you listen. The head of recruitment said he was the best we could get. But I was sacked, then Kenny (Dalglish) was sacked.”

That brought Brendan Rodgers to the club and his first summer did seem to roughly comply with the limitations Comolli outlines.

Rodgers bought Joe Allen, aged 22, for £15m, Fabio Borini, 21, for £10.5m and Oussama Assaidi, aged 24, for £3m. Nuri Sahin arrived on loan and striker Samed Yesil cost £1m aged 18.

The following January, Coutinho (£8.5m) and Daniel Sturridge arrived (£12m) again averaging roughly £10m.

The limit set on Comolli may have had something to do with the fact he had previously lavished £35m on Andy Carroll, £18.5m on Stewart Downing, £7m on Charlie Adam and £16m on Jordan Henderson, transfers at that stage which were all looking well over-priced.

ESPN also spoke to Inter Milan sporting director Piero Ausilio who spoke of his regret at letting Coutinho leave Italy.

He said: “It was a great regret for me to have to sell him - perhaps one of my greatest regrets in over 20 years at Inter.

“I have splendid memories of Coutinho, both as a footballer and of the lad himself. When he got here, it struck us how outstanding he was immediately -- he was serious and wanted to work and you could see that he had all that was needed to go on and do what he has done so far.

“I’ve got to put this into the context of the moment he arrived. Because, for sure, he would be a regular if he were here now, playing all our games and having all the success he is now having at Liverpool. He just was not ready physically and he still had to get used to a different kind of football over here.

“After a year, he was not playing regularly, but we could see he had the talent. Maybe we just had some more talented players ahead of him in the pecking order at the time -- like Diego Milito, Wesley Sneijder, Antonio Cassano and Rodrigo Palacio - so he couldn’t get a regular game, and he needed this.”

Despite his regrets Ausilio said Coutinho had played an important part in Inter’s future, despite failing to make a major breakthrough at the club.

“The money we got was invested in buying (Mateo) Kovacic, who we then sold on for far more - almost €40m to Real Madrid. We were already completing the signing of Mauro Icardi from Sampdoria, so the money from selling Coutinho actually enabled us to bring in Kovacic and went towards the signing of Icardi too.”