Jurgen Klopp warns Barcelona in pursuit of Philippe Coutinho

Hong Kong, July 22: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has stated that Philippe Coutinho is not for sale after Liverpool rejected a £72 million approach from Barcelona.

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Reports claim that Liverpool have made it clear to Barcelona that their star forward will not be sold for any price.

Brazil international Coutinho signed a five-year contract at Anfield in January, with Liverpool ensuring that no release clause was inserted as part of the new deal.

The bid comes as Paris Saint-Germain are working on a world-record approach for Barcelona's own Brazilian star, Neymar. This could certainly mean that Barcelona have let down the hopes of retaining Neymar and want him to be replaced by Coutinho.

When asked at a press conference on Friday (July 21) if Coutinho is not for sale amid the Barcelona interest, Klopp responded: "Yes [he is not for sale].

"But that's not since this morning or yesterday, it's not been any different. Phil is a very important player for us.

"He's trying to get back his rhythm but there's no doubt about his quality. He's very smart both offensively and defensively.

"The nice news is that he's still young. He has improved a lot since I've been here and he can still improve a lot."

The Liverpool manager added: "I'm not surprised that any club is interested in players at Liverpool.

"The very important message is that we are not a selling club and that's how it is.

"We believe in working together and developing together. We want to make the next step together and for this we need to stay together.

"We have to create a situation where everybody is easily able to see which direction we want to go.

"It's really positive. This is a fantastic club and it's a good moment for Liverpool."

Meanwhile, Coutinho's teammate, Adam Lallana has also urged the 25-year-old to stay at Liverpool for the foreseeable future, believing success can be achieved if the core of the team is kept intact.

"We're going to achieve big things here and I'm sure Phil is going to be part of that," Lallana told at the same press conference.

"He's in that elite bracket but there's no reason why he can't continue to be in that bracket and achieve huge things here at Liverpool Football Club.

"We're a massive club. If we're going to win competitions like the Champions League and Premier League then we need to keep our players like Philippe."

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