John Barnes thought Philippe Coutinho was heading to Barcelona this summer.
Barca made three bids for the Brazil international but the La Liga giants failed to land their top target, with Liverpool refusing to sell.
And Barnes says Jurgen Klopp played a big part blocking Coutinho’s exit.
“Neymar went for £200m, who could have thought Liverpool could have turned down a bid of £140m for a footballer?” Barnes told Sky Sports.
“Initially I did (think he would go) but towards the end I was with Liverpool.
“The good thing about Liverpool is that Jurgen Klopp is in complete control of everything at the club.
“At a lot of the clubs, some of the owners, some of the directors, the CEOs may have an input into whether a player will stay or go, particularly if a figure like that came in.
“But the good thing is they completely trust Jurgen Klopp from top to bottom, the owner, the CEO and if he makes a decision that a player is not going to go, the player stays.”
Arsenal will hold further contract talks with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
The pair have been linked with a move away from the Gunners, with the Arsenal stars yet to pen new deals.
Sanchez and Ozil are out of contract at the end of the season and the Gunners risk losing them for free.
And the Daily Telegraph say there’s little chance of the pair staying in north London.
They reckon Arsenal have offered Sanchez and Ozil £280,000-a-week deals but they’ve refused to sign.
Chelsea should have kept Nathaniel Chalobah instead of signing Tiemoue Bakayoko, Ray Wilkins says.
The Blues signed Monaco star Bakayoko for £40m after letting Chalobah join Watford for £6m.
When asked if the squad is weaker than last season, Wilkins told Sky Sports: “Well very much weaker.
“When you think what we’ve lost, we’ve lost Nathaniel Chalobah for £6m.
“I can’t see the difference between the £40m that we paid for Bakayoko, I don’t see that £34m difference, I really can’t.
“Nathaniel is an up and coming young man who shows a lot of promise.
“He’s already got himself in the England squad for his performances this season.
“I spoke with JT (John Terry) a long while ago, towards the back end of a season, and he said to me ‘Ray, just throw Nathaniel in, he’s been different class in training’.”
