Jurgen Klopp will restore Philippe Coutinho to the Liverpool team after the international break, despite the Brazilian’s desire to leave Anfield during the transfer window.
After Neymar’s world-record transfer from Barca to Paris Saint-Germain in August, Coutinho became hot property, with the Catalan giants keen to add the 25-year-old to their depleted squad.
Coutinho allegedly put a transfer request in to try and force a move, but Liverpool remained resolute, refusing to budge despite a number of bids, as these fell short of their reported €200-million valuation.
The forward had missed all five of Liverpool’s matches in the 2017-18 season due to an apparent back injury, but he was fit enough to feature for Brazil in their World Cup qualifier against Ecuador.
Coutinho came off the bench and scored the second goal of the game in a 2-0 win on Friday, and Klopp won’t hesitate to put him back into the Liverpool side after the international break.
‘We have exactly the situation we wanted, and no other,’ Klopp told German media outlet SPORT1, after coaching in Nikolce Noveski’s testimonial game at former club Mainz.
‘Don’t believe everything in the press or that there are offers here and there, and that the minute after the offer has been entered, it should already be over.
‘We are not like George Orwell where everybody knows everything immediately.
‘We still have a really good player in the squad who can play.’
Instead of signing Coutinho, Barcelona opted for Ousmane Dembele after the France international went on strike to get his exit from Borussia Dortmund.
-This story originally appeared on FourFourTwo.co.za