Liverpool insiders respond to reports of a second £90m bid from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho

After suggestions that a bid of £77m was rejected by Liverpool for Coutinho last week, French journalist Mohamed Bouhafsi claimed on Monday night that Liverpool had rejected a second substantial offer for their Brazilian midfielder.

Subsequent stories in the Spanish media suggesting Barca had been given encouragement that the Anfield could would sell if the price was right and in the current inflated transfer market, a fee in excess of £130m was mentioned as a possible deal breaker for Liverpool.

Yet Independent.ie understands the Merseyside club are firm in their stance that Coutinho will not be sold this summer, with manager Jurgen Klopp unequivocal in his stance that they player will now move to Barcelona in this transfer window.

"If you say he is not available to be sold, where is the interpretation?" stated Klopp reiterated on Monday. "The word 'not' means there is no interpretation. There is nothing new."

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Barcelona’s hierarchy have made no secret of their admiration for Coutinho and if the Catalan giants are to be the recipients of €222m from the sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain in the coming days.

While Liverpool are determined not to sell the player who signed a new lucrative contract with the club only last January, this story has a few more twists and turns left in it before the end of the transfer window.

In the end, it the player may well have a role to play in deciding whether he remains at Anfield with the offer of a lifetime from Barcelona being floated in his direction.