'Liverpool demanded €200m for Coutinho'

During the press conference, Soler revealed that a deal to bring Coutinho to the club could not be reached due to Liverpool's 'excessive' demands for the player.

"Yesterday, after weeks of offers and talks, Liverpool valued a player we wanted at €200m. We decided against that," he explained to the gathered press.

When talking about the current state of the transfer market, Soler made his frustration clear: "This €200m figure shows the new, irresponsable transfer model that is prevailing and Barcelona refuses to contribute to that."

The club's sporting dfirector explained that the nature of Neymar's move to PSG made it difficult for the club to replace him: "The fact he activated a clause unilaterally and left for €222m (£198m) caused everyone to know that we had money," he explained. "We managed to avoid jeopardising the club's heritage and finances. We won't play in this inflated market."

Soler also had time to talk about Paulinho's arrival, though he did misquote the Brazilian's transfer fee.

"I said that Paulinho cost €40 plus add-ons but I was mistaken, it was €40m without add-ons," he noted in an attempt to clarify his earlier comments.