Rio Ferdinand Claims Liverpool Star Is Worth Reported £140m Price Tag as Barca's Interest Continues

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Philippe Coutinho is worth the £140m transfer fee Barcelona are expected to offer Liverpool for the Brazilian.

The Spanish giants made three unsuccessful bids for the attacker in this summer's transfer window, and are thought to be preparing another bid when the window reopens in January.

Coutinho's stock continued to rise after he hit his first Liverpool hat-trick in Wednesday's 7-0 Champions League thrashing of Spartak Moscow.

The Express quotes Ferdinand, speaking after the game about Barcelona's interest in the player, as saying: "When they were talking about the fee which was being mooted about for him if Barcelona were going to try and buy him, £130-£140m, the only thing you would say is ‘is he going to get enough goals to warrant that?'

“In this form, it suggests yes."

Ferdinand did however go on to say that Coutinho must keep up this form if he is to justify such a fee, claiming: “He’s got to continue in this vein of form of scoring goals.

“He is the manipulator, he gets things going, everything goes through him in terms of going forward and the creativity in this team."

Coutinho has scored nine times in fourteen appearances in all competitions for Liverpool this season, but it is strongly believed that he is still hoping to make the move to Barcelona sooner rather later.