Philippe Coutinho and teammates have no real reason to leave 'project Liverpool', insists Jurgen Klopp

The German manager has outlined his belief that Anfield remains an attractive club for players of Coutinho's calibre

Jurgen Klopp has made it clear that the Brazilian is not for sale (Getty)

Jurgen Klopp has argued that Philippe Coutinho and his Liverpool teammates have no real reason to leave Anfield this summer, such is the current ‘positive’ trajectory of the club.

Amid continued speculation linking the 25-year-old with a move to Barcelona - despite Liverpool’s insistence that he is not for sale - the German manager has outlined his belief that Anfield remains an attractive option for players of Coutinho’s calibre.

Barcelona have made the Brazilian their top target to replace Neymar, who was sold to PSG earlier this month for a record-breaking £200m, but have so far seen their two bids rebuffed by the Premier League side.

Coutinho himself has expressed a desire to leave Merseyside, having handed in a transfer request via email last week, but Liverpool are standing firm in their refusal to sell the playmaker.

With two weeks to go until the close of the transfer window, Klopp has once again sought to downplay Coutinho’s links to Barcelona, insisting he is not interested in their problems, while praising the 'positive project' currently in place at Liverpool.

“Can you imagine for a minute I am not a little bit interested about the problems or not of Barcelona?” he said during his Thursday press conference.

“You can imagine, in general, I think for each player Liverpool is a very good club, a very good team in the moment. We have a good age of the group. We have very young boys, experience - it’s a good mix and we are on our way.

Philippe Coutinho is a perfect fit for Barcelona (Getty Images)

“I think we got of rid of the expectations of 20 years ago and created our own expectations for all the people. They expect a lot from us because of what we did last season.

“I am fine with the situation and I am very positive about the project of Liverpool. I don’t see a lot of reasons for each player to leave the club at the moment and that’s just in general.”

Coutinho currently remains unavailable for selection after picking up a back injury in Liverpool’s pre-season campaign and is set to be sidelined for Saturday’s home fixture against Crystal Palace.

Klopp admitted that his absence, whether through injury or transfer, is a loss for the side but insisted Liverpool were capable of adapting without their star player.

Klopp sees no reason why Coutinho would want to leave Liverpool (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“Having Phil not available was never cool but it happened”, he added. “Every team in the world would miss a creative player in whichever position of his quality. That’s not too cool but I am already used to it.

“You cannot find exactly the same solution. We have to play the passes we need from the areas we are. That’s how football works and if Phil could have had just one genius idea on the pitch that would have helped. Absolutely. That’s all.

“But I can’t work in my office, make a line-up and say ‘ahhh! And here we miss Phil’ because that is not how works. That’s because I don’t think a lot about it. It’s a situation in the moment and we have to take it like this.”