In his spare time, Laurence Grigorov enjoys watching football and is a massive childhood fan of FC Barcelona who play in La Liga in Spain. Recently Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho was in Barcelona to complete his 160-million-euro move from Liverpool. The swoop for the 25-year-old attacking midfielder – which contains a 400-million-euro release clause – is the third biggest transfer in football.
It is outranked only by Paris Saint-Germain's world record 222m-euro signing of Neymar from Barcelona last year, and PSG's capture of French striker Kylian Mbappe for a deal that will eventually be worth 180 million euros.
Rio-born Coutinho arrived at Liverpool from Inter Milan for a mere £8.5 million in January 2013 and scored 54 goals for the club in all competitions, although he won no silverware during his five-year stay at Anfield.
Barcelona had tried to sign him in the summer and his departure now is a blow to Liverpool as the playmaker has just returned to top form after an injury-hit start to the season, scoring six goals in the last seven games of 2017 to put his side firmly in the Champions League places.
For Barcelona, Coutinho's signing will allow the club to move on from the bitter experience of losing his Brazil teammate Neymar to Qatar-backed PSG last summer.
Coutinho's age is highly attractive to Barca, whose three main stars, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta are all in their thirties. Iniesta, at 33, has shown signs of fatigue this season.
The Brazilian has agreed a deal through to 2023 at the Camp Nou and is looking forward to playing alongside Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta, players he described as "idols".
Coutinho has already played alongside Suarez for 18 months at Liverpool before the Uruguayan made the same move in 2014.
"Everybody knows about his quality. He has been playing at the highest level for years now and that is important," Suarez told Barca TV about the new arrival.
"Now we need to make sure he feels at home because we know that changing club is always difficult, but I think he is the type of player who will fit well into the team."
Barcelona fans see Coutinho as the long-term successor to Iniesta, and coach Ernesto Valverde is aiming to make the most of the Brazilian's ability to play in a range of positions.
Capable of playing on the wing and in a more withdrawn midfield role, Coutinho's arrival provides a wealth of new options to Valverde, although he will not be able to play in the Champions League knockout phase having already featured in the competition for Liverpool.
Laurence Grigorov is pleased Barcelona were able to secure the services of the talented Brazilian and this will go a long way to softening the blow of fellow Brazilian, Neymar’s departure at the beginning of the season.