Jurgen Klopp hits back at claims Liverpool must sell Philippe Coutinho to balance books

The Kop boss justified the Reds’ record spend by claiming they had to adapt to keep up with the big spenders even though he admitted it is “not nice”.

But he is adamant they don’t have to sell one of their assets to appease the money men at the club after signing the Dutch defender from Southampton.

When asked if he will now have to sell a player, Klopp said: “Nobody told me that. I have no information about that. No.

“We have good player and we don’t have to sell anybody because of that.”

If there was one sale that would more than balance the books it would be Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.

But Klopp remains focused only on his team’s current run of good form, which has seen the Brazil ace score or assist in the last 14 games, rather than his future.

“The only thing I will say and the only thing I am interested in is how is Phil playing at the moment,” said Klopp. 

“That is what I am interested in because all the rest I can’t, and don’t, want to talk about because if I open the door then you run all the way through. If there is something to say you will know. 

“In my business it makes absolute no sense to talk about things that ‘could’ ‘maybe’ happen because all it does is create stories which 90 per cent of the time are not true. Why should we do that?”

He added: “The first thing we must make sure is that we have the squad for the second half of the season.

“Players have longer contracts but everything can happen in the summer.

“We have to see what we do.

“The club’s interest comes first and we must make sure we have enough players for different situations.

“It has to be perfect for the player and the club – but if not, the club comes first.

“There is interest in our players but there has been nothing agreed so far.”