Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp rules out La Liga move for star forward Philippe Coutinho

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has dismissed all the transfer talks linking Philippe Coutinho to top La Liga clubs, indicating the club has no plans to sell the midfielder.

The British media have linked Coutinho to both Real Madrid and Barcelona before an ankle ligament injury sidelined the Brazilian for seven weeks.

“It would be nice if big clubs thought like this and forgot about a player completely because he’s been injured for five or six weeks. But big clubs don’t think this way unfortunately,” Klopp told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s League Cup visit to Southampton on Wednesday.

“But we never had any ideas or any plans or any talks about this because he is our player and there are no other ideas. And nothing has changed.”

The 24-year-old, who joined the Merseyside club in 2013, has scored six goals and racked up five assists in 14 appearances this season.

Klopp is confident that Coutinho could play a role during the midweek clash at St Mary’s but is not sure if the Brazil international could then recover to feature in the Premier League against Manchester United on Sunday.