Liverpool’s major transfer statement of the summer was not a new signing, but in fact holding on to their star man.
Phillippe Coutinho made no secret of his desire to move to Barcelona this summer. Neymar’s exit gave Barcelona a huge head ache, as they needed to scour Europe for someone capable enough to take Neyamr’s place in the side.
In spite of signing Ousmane Dembele for a whopping 147 million pounds, Barcelona were primarily behind the signature of Coutinho.
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But Liverpool stood firm as they resisted all offers for their number ten, some if which even exceeded 100 million.
Coutinho has not played for Liverpool this season, as the official word is that he is suffering from a troublesome back injury.
Liverpool fans were therefore very surprised to see that Coutinho play for Brazil in the international break, as the talented midfielder was impressive for his country.
And now, Klopp has announced that Coutinho will not be part of the Liverpool squad that will face Man City in the weekend.
“Nothing else to say, actually, so he’s back and we had a really good conversation, so good.
“It’s of course different because Phil, I know what people think, but Phil had the back problem a few weeks ago and couldn’t train so that means he missed around about three weeks.
“Yes, he went to the national team and trained normally, but now we have to prepare for a normal season so we have seven games [before the next international break] and we saw training this morning and thought ‘OK, maybe we should use him immediately’ because he was really good, but that doesn’t make sense.
What does not make sense is how Coutinho still has a back issue if he was able to play two matches for his country.
Watch this space for more!
