Jürgen Klopp has said he has no qualms about putting the unsettled playmaker Philippe Coutinho back into his Liverpool starting lineup despite the Brazil international submitting an unsuccessful transfer request.
Coutinho, 25, the club’s highest-paid player after signing a five-year, £150,000-a-week contract in January, tried to force an exit by asking to leave after Barcelona had a third bid of £90m up front rejected.
The club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, issued a statement insisting Coutinho would remain a Liverpool player when the summer window closed and that has proved to be the case, although since then there have been reports suggesting he does not want to play for the club again.
The player was unavailable for Liverpool’s first five matches with an apparent back injury but came off the bench to score for Brazil in a World Cup qualifier against Ecuador on Thursday and is expected to feature against Colombia on Tuesday before returning to Melwood.
It remains to be seen whether he will be considered for the trip to top-four rivals Manchester City on Saturday but Klopp is happy to still have the player available to him.
“We still have a really good player in the squad who can play,” said Klopp, speaking to the German media outlet SPORT1 after coaching in Nikolce Noveski’s testimonial game at his former club Mainz. “Don’t believe everything in the press or that there are offers here and there and that the minute after the offer has been entered, it should already be over.
“We are not like George Orwell where everybody knows everything immediately. We have exactly the situation we wanted and no other.”