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Liverpool have AGREED a £142m deal to sell Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.

The transfer is expected to be confirmed in the next 24 hours, with the Brazilian flying to Spain on Saturday evening to complete the formalities.

The fee for the 25-year-old is €160m (£142m). Liverpool will receive £105m up front, with the rest in performance-related add-ons.

It will make Coutinho the second most expensive player in history, behind Neymar, and brings to an end a long and often fractious saga.

Liverpool rejected a number of bids from Barcelona in the summer, when their stance was that the player was simply not for sale.

The club stood firm despite a transfer request, submitted on the eve of the Premier League season. Coutinho returned to action in September having been denied his dream move, and responded with some of his best form for Liverpool.

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His desire to move to Barca, however, never wavered. Liverpool were keen to keep their star man until the end of the season, but Coutinho's camp made it clear that they wanted an immediate deal.

That led to an obvious softening in the Reds' position, with manager Jurgen Klopp regularly refusing to discuss the situation - where in the summer he had publicly stated that Coutinho had no price.

Coutinho will leave having made 201 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 54 goals. The Reds paid £8.5m to sign him as a 20-year-old in 2013, and will now look to replace him in this window.

(Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Monaco's Thomas Lemar is their main target, though the Ligue 1 club are reluctant to sell in this window, while the ECHO understands there is no desire to sign Leicester's Riyad Mahrez at this stage.

Coutinho will attend Barcelona's game with Levante on Sunday, and could make his debut for the Catalans on Wednesday against Celta Vigo.