Philippe Coutinho moving to Barcelona this January is madness - Liverpool must dig their heels in and keep him

A January transfer taking Coutinho to Barcelona is looking increasingly likely. Keep up to date with all of the latest transfer news and rumours with our live blog

Liverpool are poised to sell Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona with the player desperate to move to January – and Gary Neville thinks it’s madness.

Jurgen Klopp had hoped to hang onto the Brazilian until the end of the transfer window but it is now looking increasingly likely that he will leave the club sooner rather than later.

A £133m deal has reportedly been agreed – but Neville thinks the Reds are making a big mistake.

“I have been tweaking the tail of the tiger with my tweets to Jamie Carragher about the Philippe Coutinho situation and actually agree with his suggestions that Liverpool should do a deal with Barcelona for the summer,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“To have turned down a bid in the summer and then lose him now would be madness. You're always likely to lose a player when Barcelona or Real Madrid come calling. There's an inevitability of him leaving but they need to say 'give us time'.

”To lose him now could have a terrible impact on their season. Liverpool are too big a football club to let one player mess them around.”

Neville added that Liverpool will miss Coutinho’s ability to unpick dogged defences in the Premier League, especially considering so many teams sit back and keep eleven men behind the ball against them.

“To be fair, I wouldn't say they won't make the top four if he goes, but the impact off the pitch and in the dressing room - along with a loss of skill on the pitch - will be huge.

”There's also their troubles with breaking down deep-lying defences, which was clear when you looked at the Everton game when they left him on the bench.

“It also just sends completely the wrong message and I agree with Jamie: there will be a two-tier impact if they let him go now.”