Between them, Brazilian forwards Neymar and Philippe Coutinho cost over £330m as they both completed record-breaking moves within months of each other.
Samba star Neymar sealed what was then a world record £190m move to French giants PSG in the summer of 2017 as he turned his back on Barcelona. Without one part of their famed triumvirate of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, the Catalan giants elected to splash the cash themselves.
They raided Merseyside and Liverpool for the services of Coutinho, paying £142m for the pleasure in the following January. Speaking at the time, he described the move as a "dream" as he aimed to emulate a vast array of Brazilian heroes in Catalonia.
Funnily enough, things could have been very different had ex-Blaugrana star Neymar had his way. After claiming that Coutinho would have fit in at the Camp Nou earlier in his career, it was reported that Neymar had got in touch with his compatriot and long-time friend via Whatsapp to urge him to move to the Parc des Princes in the summer of 2017.
Neymar had never attempted to hide his admiration of his countryman. Speaking during the latter’s impressive spell at Liverpool, he said: “He can be the star player in England. This season I think everybody in England is seeing how talented he is — and I know he has a lot more to show.
“When he has the ball at his feet, he can make things happen for himself and he can make things happen for other players. He is a very special player.”
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Since then, things have gone spectacularly awry. Whilst Neymar has put up impressive numbers in the French capital, his relationship with the club’s supporters has threatened to overshadow his time at the club, whilst rumours of an exit refuse to go away.
Meanwhile, Coutinho’s Barcelona spell went even worse. Just 20 goals over the next season-and-a-half preceded a loan move to Bayern Munich as the Catalan giants immediately attempted to move him on.
Combined with the huge fee that they had handed Borussia Dortmund for Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona were now looking into a financial abyss. Coutinho’s career has continued to lurch from bad to worse since.
Following his spell with Bayern - where he scored twice in a 8-2 Champions League embarrassment of his parent side - he returned to the Camp Nou. He made another 30 appearances for the club as serious injury problems took hold before being shipped out on-loan to Aston Villa.
The ex-Liverpool star initially impressed with the Premier League side with talk of a switch to PSG ironically resurfacing. Coutinho once again suggested that he would also be keen to play alongside Neymar.
"It's always a pleasure to play with him, it's a crack," he said. "We played a lot of time in Brazilian youth teams, [Neymar] became a special player.
"Playing at his side is always a pleasure, even though I haven't had any luck at the club level yet. It would be nice to play with him in a club."
Unsurprisingly, Villa swooped to make the deal permanent before he had the chance. It’s clear that even if he was not playing alongside his friend, he was keen to put his experience in Catalonia behind him. "It wasn’t the experience I expected [with Barcelona], but life is like that," he said.
"The only time I was worried was when I had a serious injury, I was out for nine months and I had three operations. It’s all part of the ups and downs of life.
“My dream was to play at Barcelona since I was a boy. But now that’s in the past and I’m eager for my future."
Coutinho has once again failed to match up to that early promise as he fell out of contention last term, scoring only one goal in all competitions. He now appears likely to leave Villa Park for good this season as the 30-year-old desperately attempts to revive his career once again.
Whether a move to PSG either in 2017 or five years later would have reversed the playmaker’s fortunes, no one can know for sure. The French club however will be delighted that Coutinho chose to ignore Neymar’s advice.
Instead of securing his signature, the club’s Qatari owners instead sealed another mega-deal for then-Monaco starlet Kylian Mbappe. Signed initially on-loan, they secured his signature on a permanent basis just one year later.
The Frenchman scored 39 goals in all competitions during his first campaign as a fully-fledged PSG player - just three fewer than Coutinho has scored in his career since his big-money move to Barcelona. Mbappe has gone on to claim the outright title as the club’s all-time top goalscorer, no mean feat at just the age of 24.
Whilst he has proven to be worth the huge fee that the club paid for him, the same cannot certainly be said of Coutinho. Looking back, those WhatsApp’s from Neymar might have been the golden ticket that he needed as the pair reflect back on a £330m partnership that might have been.
