Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool chief Michael Edwards had Philippe Coutinho transfer chat

The European champions, therefore, did not see much sense given that the option to buy him would also have been similar to the clause available to Bayern.

They can sign Coutinho on a permanent basis this coming summer for around £110m – a fee which would smash Liverpool’s highest ever fee for a new signing, which stands at £75m.

And so the finances for Liverpool’s officials simply didn’t add up, even though they have the funds available.

Klopp has decided to be more diligent in the market in the past three windows, since spending over £150m to recruit Alisson Becker, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri – a spend largely funded by Coutinho’s departure.

Since then, less than £10m has been spent on Liverpool’s first-team squad, with back-up goalkeeper Adrian recruited on a free and Takumi Minamino costing just £7.25m from Red Bull Salzburg last month.

The Reds have also added the likes of Sepp van den Berg and Harvey Elliott to their ranks, with the pair both playing regularly for the senior squad this term in cup competitions.

Despite their low-key expenditure, Liverpool sit 22 points clear of Manchester City atop the Premier League table and are on course for their first title since 1990, while they are also strong contenders in Europe and have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time under Klopp.

source: express.co.uk