• Barcelona.Coutinho will play on loan at Bayern

Philippe Coutinho said Monday during his presentation that he hopes to be "many years" with Bayern Munich and win many titles with the Bavarian club. "I hope to be here for many years and win many titles," Coutinho said in his first press conference, which he offered along with the club's sports director, Hasan Salihamidzic , and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Karlheinz Rummenigge.

"When Hasan asked me if I wanted to come to Bayern I had no doubt," Coutinho said. Rummenigge, on the other hand, thanked FC Barcelona for the weather in which negotiations had taken place to bring Coutinho to Munich, with a transfer for a season that also includes a purchase option . "I thank FC Barcelona for the cordial negotiations, as well as Philippe, his family and his agent. I think that with him our team gains quality," Rummenigge said.

Rummenigge described the price of the session, 8.5 million euros , as "friendship price" in the face of the figures that are currently moving in the market but later admitted that the purchase option is for a high price. "8.5 million euros is a price of friendship. With few clubs we have such close relations as with Barcelona that I did not want to block the operation due to the fact that Philippe wanted to come to Munich at all costs," he said.

For Rummenigge the plans with Coutinho are long term and he highlighted the fact that, to highlight the importance of the player, he was given the number 10, which Arjen Robben had for nine seasons. "Hasan had a conversation this morning with Arjen Robben. We originally didn't want to give anyone 7 or 10 this season, in recognition of what Arjen and Franck Ribery did for the club," he said. "But we decided to give Philippe the 10 to show what the operation means to us. Arjen had no problem and wished us all luck."

Rummenigge downplayed the fact that the signing of Coutinho, like the Micklel Cuissance and Ivan Perisic , have occurred with the season already underway. "There have been seasons when we have closed the signings soon, Other times we have taken and I can remember the cases of Thiago and Javi Martínez," he said.

Overall, about the new additions to the club, Rummenigge was satisfied. "We have signed two world champions ( Lucas Hernández and Benjamin Pavard ), a world runner-up (Perisic) and a winner of the Copa América (Coutinho)," he said.

The club president, Uli Hoeness, had said, after the announcement of the arrival of Coutinho, that Bayern now has a squad as he had imagined. However, Salihamidzic did not want to rule out today that there are more operations in the market. "The market closes on September 2 and Bayern keeps all options open," he said.

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