Philippe Coutinho has completed his loan move to Bayern Munich from Barcelona, with a season-long agreement including a €120 million purchase option.
The Brazil international midfielder will spend the 2019-20 season with the Bundesliga champions before a decision is made over a permanent transfer.
Bayern Munich have already paid out an €8.5m loan fee and agreed to take on the Brazilian’s full salary.
Barcelona had been eager to put such a deal in place as they press ahead with their efforts to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou. And Coutinho has now headed out of Spain and is looking forward to making a new start in Germany.
He told Bayern’s official website: “For me, this move means a new challenge in a new country with one of the best clubs in Europe. I’m very much looking forward to that.
“Like FC Bayern, I have big ambitions and I’m convinced that I can achieve them together with my new teammates.”
Bayern’s CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said: “We’ve been working on bringing in Philippe Coutinho for quite some time and we’re very happy that we’ve been able to complete this transfer.
“Our thanks go to FC Barcelona for agreeing to the transfer. With his creativity and outstanding skills, Philippe is a player who will immediately strengthen our attack.”
Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said: “Philippe made it very clear to us during the negotiations in Barcelona that he absolutely wanted to move to FC Bayern.
“He’s a world-class player with great ability, who we can deploy in a number of positions in our forward line, so the FC Bayern squad has gained even more quality.
“Philippe Coutinho will help us achieve the ambitious targets we’ve set for this season.”
Coutinho joined Barcelona from Liverpool in the January transfer window of 2018 as he openly conceded to having fulfilled a childhood dream by securing a move to the Liga giants.
