Liverpool release 44-word statement vowing Philippe Coutinho will NOT be sold to Barcelona

The club have rejected two bids from Barcelona for the Brazilian, the latest of which came in at £90.3million.

They turned it down within 35 minutes and are adamant the player is going nowhere.

The statement read: “We wish to offer clarity as regards our position on a possible transfer of Philippe Coutinho.

“The club’s definitive stance is that no offers for Philippe will be considered and he will remain a member of Liverpool Football Club when the summer window closes.”

The statements follows public defiance from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to insist he wouldn’t be sold.
Klopp said yesterday: “From a financial standpoint there is no price limit to let him go. A price at which we are ready to give in.




“Our goal is to have the best possible team so we want to keep our guys and add new ones. That is our plan.

“Liverpool is not a club that has to sell players. That is set in stone. So what they pay in the end doesn’t matter.”

Barca have plenty of money to spend, having sold Coutinho’s compatriot Neymar to Paris St Germain for a world-record £200.6m last week.
Coutinho, who joined Liverpool from Inter Milan for £8.5million in 2013, signed a new five-year deal with the Merseyside outfit in January that did not include a buy-out clause.

The 25-year-old was their leading scorer with 14 goals in all competitions last term, a season that saw Klopp’s men secure a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League.

Liverpool open their 2017-18 campaign with tomorrow’s league clash against Watford at Vicarage Road and there are doubts over whether Coutinho will be available for the match, with him having been receiving treatment this week for a back issue.

Source:www.express.co.uk