Philippe Coutinho left out of Liverpool squad for Champions League play-off as Barcelona persist with transfer effort

The midfielder wants to leave Liverpool to join Barcelona and his omission from the Champions League squad could open the door to a move to the Nou Camp

Philippe Coutinho has been left out of the Liverpool squad that will travel to Germany on Monday ahead of their Champions League play-off first leg against Hoffenheim, with the midfielder’s future growing increasingly uncertain by the day.

The 25-year-old missed Liverpool’s 3-3 draw with Watford on Saturday that opened their Premier League campaign due to a back injury, although the extent of that setback has been thrown into doubt given the furore over his attempt to join Barcelona that led to last Friday’s transfer request.

Liverpool are determined not to sell Coutinho, with the club’s owners Fenway Sports Group issuing a statement to confirm that the Brazil international will still be one of their players come the end of the transfer window after rejecting a €100m [£90.4m] offer from Barcelona.

However, the statement was followed by an emailed transfer request from Coutinho’s camp, with the former Inter Milan midfielder determined to move to the Nou Camp this summer while Barcelona’s interest in him is alive.

The news will be music to the ears of officials at Barcelona, who are hoping that the player's admission that he wants to leave the club will result in Liverpool changing their mind on their resistance and allow him to move to Spain. Coutinho would not be cup-tied for the Champions League even if he played for Liverpool in the second-leg next week though, given Uefa allow players to represent different clubs between the qualifying rounds and the group stage.

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The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, confirmed on Saturday before the draw at Vicarage Road that Coutinho’s future is out of his own hands and lies solely with the Premier League club’s owners, with the German focusing on the players that he can call on for the crucial first leg at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena on Tuesday, before next Wednesday’s return leg at Anfield.

“I've had no time to think about it today,” Klopp said. “I had to prepare for a match.

“If I was upset, I'd tell the player himself. I didn't get it (the transfer request) but I can say something that's more important.

“As a manager of a football club, I have bosses. That decide, for example, just in general, if we sell a player or we don't sell him. Then I have to accept it.

“If they don't sell him, then I am not involved any more. I'm responsible for all of our players, not just one or two or three, but all of them.

“I can't say anything about it, the only thing is I work with the players I have. That's what I'm always doing.”

Daniel Sturridge has not travelled to Germany due to injury 

(Getty)

Another player that Klopp cannot call on is striker Daniel Sturridge, who remains absent due to the thigh injury that he suffered in Liverpool’s pre-season victory over Bayern Munich. It means that Klopp can call on the same players that started the first league game of the season at the weekend, with striker Dominic Solanke still yet to make his competitive debut after being left on the substitutes’ bench against Watford.

Liverpool squad vs Hoffenheim:

Alexander-Arnold, Moreno, Lovren, Milner, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Can, Mane, Salah, Firmino, Kent, Solanke, Origi, Gomez, Klavan, Flanagan, Robertson, Matip, Grujic, Mignolet, Karius, Ward.