Jurgen Klopp will not have to sell Philippe Coutinho to balance Liverpool books after Virgil van Dijk deal

Van Dijk became the world's most expensive ever defender this week

Coutinho has been linked with a move to Barcelona (Getty)

Jurgen Klopp insists he is not under pressure to sell players to balance out Liverpool’s £75m signing of Virgil van Dijk but was notably guarded when quizzed about Philippe Coutinho’s future.

Holland international Van Dijk will formally join Liverpool from Southampton on New Year’s Day when the transfer window re-opens and he officially becomes the world’s most expensive defender.

When asked if the arrival of Van Dijk will force Klopp to ensure the books are subsequently balanced, the Liverpool manager was unequivocal with his response.

“Nobody told me that. I have no information about that. No,” Klopp said. “We have good player and we don’t have to sell anybody because of that. So fair play to our owners that they are ambitious and now we have to use the team to grow together.”

The arrival of Van Dijk is another piece in the jigsaw for Liverpool as Klopp builds a team he believes will be able to challenge Manchester City in the Premier League, albeit not for the title this season, and compete for silverware.

The spectre of Coutinho’s future, however, is likely to cast a shadow over January with Barcelona still keen to lure the influential Brazilian playmaker to La Liga.

Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, saw off Barcelona’s attempts to sign him in the summer with a defiant ‘not for sale’ stance.

Reports in Spain, though, claim Barcelona are growing confident of a deal for Coutinho and that FSG and Liverpool sporting director have been in direct communication with Catalan Club.

After a slow start to the campaign Coutinho has just enjoyed his most prolific month in a Liverpool shirt with seven goals in December which, in light of the inflated market, may help push his value to levels even Barcelona could not afford.

Given his form, and Liverpool’s season being on an upward trajectory, it was put to Klopp that it appeared strange that there was a reluctance to state Coutinho was definitively not going anywhere for the rest of this season.

But the German, conscious perhaps of the consequences of how his words might be interpreted by Coutinho or his agent, offered a measured response.

“The only thing I will say and the only thing I am interested in is how is Phil playing at the moment,” Klopp said. “I was really happy about the last few performances and about his impact.

“He showed his character in the games and in the training sessions. That was spot on. It was really good. That is what I am interested in because all the rest I can’t, and don’t, want to talk about it because if I open the door then you (the media) run all the way through.

“If there is something to say you will know. In my business it makes absolute no sense to talk about things that ‘could’ ‘maybe’ happen because all it does is create stories which 90 percent of the time are not true. Why should we do that?”

At £75m, Van Dijk will be the world's most expensive defender (Twitter @LFC)

Klopp, meanwhile, believes the capture of Van Dijk will ultimately represent a sound financial investment despite the focus on the size of the fee for the 26-year-old defender, something he has already put to the back of his mind.

“In the market for centre-halves at this moment there are a lot of interesting centre-halves that have clauses. There is not one with a lower clause,” he explained. “When Mohamed Salah came in people thought it was too much and now they think ‘wow, what a catch’ and stuff like this. We can talk about it now, and I really respect it about the price. But really I have pretty much forgotten it already.”

And it was Van Dijk’s desire to move to Anfield which will make him such a big asset to the club according to the Reds boss.

“He wanted to come here 100% and that is a very important thing,” Klopp added. “Because imagine in this moment you are a football guy and a few clubs are looking for someone and they don’t hesitate or are shy with money as well.

“That was not his intention. He wanted to join us an nobody else. That’s another really good thing.”