Real Madrid rejected Coutinho and signed Alipio for the same price in 2008 Real Madrid Were both priced at around 2.5m euros

Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho could become the second most expensive player in history if he completes a move to Barcelona, but things could have been very different in his career had Real Madrid not made what now seems like a strange decision back in 2008.

It was 10 years ago that Ramon Calderon's Los Blancos turned down the chance to sign him, opting for Alipio instead.

That agreement was reached by Miguel Angel Portugal during his time as the club's technical director, now working in the same role in India, and it was worth 2.5 million euros.

"The club is more interested in signing Alipio," was the consensus at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, and so it was.

It was Serie A giants Inter who ended up swooping to sign the promising 16-year-old Coutinho for a price of 2m euros, which is amazing considering he is now thought to be worth a staggering 170m euros.

The unfortunate thing is that Alipio was considered a real star of the future in 2008 and it did seem a good deal at the time when Real struck a 2.5m euros agreement.

Coutinho remained with the Nerazzurri for five years, and enjoyed a spell on loan at Espanyol before striking gold on Merseyside, while things did not work out at all as expected for Alipio, who has endured a nomadic and mediocre career to date.

He started at Rio Ave before his move to the Spanish capital and then tried his luck at Benfica, where he was loaned out to America-RN and Al Sharjah.

Omonia signed him from the Lisbon outfit and, from there, he has turned out for Apollon Smymi, Luverdense, Vitoria, Atletico Goianiense and currently Vila Nova.

In his blog, Miguel Angel Portugal explained the situation surrounding the signing of Alipio and the rejection of Coutinho, who would have ended up at Real if he had gotten his way.

"Coutinho had already marvelled with Vasco de Gama and was a name who had been mentioned at the club," he said.

"All of the reports about him were favourable and looked promising to sign him and the decision was made to bring him to Real Madrid.

"I personally went to Rio de Janeiro to watch him train and play, to talk with his parents and, of course, hold a meeting about joining our club.

"Everything was going well and everything was perfect and it seemed that things were going to work out for everyone, but when I returned from Brazil I found a surprise waiting for me.

"The president Ramon Calderon told me that we had signed Alipio, a 16-year-old who they had watched with Rio Ave and who the scouts found to be a very interesting player."

For essentially the same price that Real paid for Alipio, they could have signed his compatriot instead.

"It is incredible but true," Portugal admits now.

Just a week later, Inter moved in to sign Coutinho for that fee of 2.5m euros.