Philippe Coutinho is not for sale.
But hey, don’t take that from us. Take it from Jürgen Klopp.
The Liverpool boss made this perfectly clear when addressing the media in light of reports of a £72m bid for the Brazilian from Barcelona.
Currently in Hong Kong with his squad as part of their preparations for the new season, Klopp made it perfectly clear that the player was going nowhere.
“I’m not surprised that any club is interested in players at Liverpool,” he explained. “The very important message is that we are not a selling club and that’s how it is.”
Ah, so that’s the end of that then. Or is it?
Some Liverpool fans are rightly cautious about the prospect of Coutinho remaining at Anfield. Although Klopp’s message made his intentions clear, all football fans are well aware that if a player really wants a move, it tends to happen.
On top of this, many Liverpool fans haven’t forgotten what happened in 2011, either.
On January 28 of that year, Liverpool’s official account tweeted out a short statement indicating that the club had no intention of selling striker Fernando Torres. The Spaniard had endured a difficult first half of the season at Anfield and was being strongly linked with a move to Chelsea at the time.
A mere 72 hours after the tweet had been sent, Torres had completed a £50m move to Stamford Bridge.
The tweet (at the time of writing, at least) remains on Liverpool’s Twitter page for the world to see. It’s also clocked up a number of retweets on Friday morning in response to Klopp’s assurances that Coutinho will not be departing.
LFC insist Torres is not for sale http://lfc.tv/Ja7 (JR)
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 28, 2011
Take nothing for granted, we guess.
Although reports have indicated that Barca’s bid for Coutinho has been rejected, it’s reported that they will improve their offer.
Having said this, Coutinho is said to be happy at Anfield. The news that his close friend Neymar is closing on a move away from the Spanish giants may also influence his decision to stay put on Merseyside for a while longer.
