Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic: 'Philippe Coutinho fee is a bit high'

Midfielder Ivan Rakitic has acknowledged that the Catalan giants are paying an inflated fee in order to sign Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho.

On Monday, Barcelona announced that they have completed a deal for the Brazilian, who will move to Camp Nou for a fee of £105m, plus £37m in add-ons.

Coutinho will likely challenge Rakitic for a place in Ernesto Valverde's starting lineup, but the Croatian midfielder has said that he is happy with the arrival of the player.

Rakitic is quoted by the Liverpool Echo as saying: "My opinion doesn't matter, but the price has gone a bit high, that's what the market dictates.

"Every great player is welcome here. I congratulate the president and everyone else who made it possible for him to be here. He is one of the family now, we are going to enjoy him a lot, he's now at the biggest club in the world."

Barcelona have revealed that Coutinho will miss the next three weeks of action with a thigh injury.