Klopp: Liverpool won't use Coutinho to fund Van Dijk signing

Posted Saturday, December 30, 2017 by ESPN

Klopp: Liverpool won't use Coutinho to fund Van Dijk signing
Jurgen Klopp stopped short of guaranteeing Philippe Coutinho would stay at Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp has suggested Liverpool will not have to sell Philippe Coutinho to help fund the club's hefty layout for newly signed centre-back Virgi van Dijk.

Van Dijk will join the Reds on Jan. 1 after agreeing a deal that will see the Anfield club pay Southampton £75 million for his services.

Liverpool have reportedly pledged a minimum of €65m to sign midfielder Naby Keita from Hoffenheim next July, and could command a fee well in excess of €100m for Coutinho should they choose to sell to make up the difference.

But Klopp told multiple UK papers on Friday that won't be the case, as far as he knows.

"Nobody told me that. I have no information about that. No," Klopp said. "We have good player and we don't have to sell anybody because of that. So fair play to our owners that they are ambitious and now we have to use the team to grow together."

The former Borussia Dortmund manager, however, was reluctant to definitely state the Brazil international -- who's enjoying his most productive spell since joining the Reds -- would be staying at Mersyside in the short or long term.

"The only thing I will say and the only thing I am interested in is how is Phil playing at the moment," Klopp said. "I was really happy about the last few performances and about his impact.

"He showed his character in the games and in the training sessions. That was spot on. It was really good. That is what I am interested in because all the rest I can't, and don't, want to talk about it because if I open the door then you [the media] 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 percent of the time are not true. Why should we do that?"

The transfer fee for of Van Dijk was seen as exorbitant in some corners. Klopp, though, said the market dictated Liverpool's club-record payout for the Netherlands defender.

"In the market for centre-halves at this moment there are a lot of interesting centre-halves that have clauses. There is not one with a lower clause," Klopp said.

"When Mohamed Salah came in people thought it was too much and now they think 'wow, what a catch' and stuff like this. We can talk about it now, and I really respect it about the price. But really I have pretty much forgotten it already."

Klopp added it was Van Dijk's desire to join the club that also made the Saints man more valuable of an asset.

"He wanted to come here 100 percent and that is a very important thing," Klopp said. "Because imagine in this moment you are a football guy and a few clubs are looking for someone and they don't hesitate or are shy with money as well.

"That was not his intention. He wanted to join us and nobody else. That's another really good thing."