Liverpool Reportedly Rejects £72m Bid From Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho
Barcelona has been looking to rebuild its ageing midfield with interest in players from Premier League clubs in order to help maintain its deadly brand of attacking football.
As such, The Times reports that Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool has rejected a huge £72m bid from the Blaugrana on the 20th for attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho.
Coutinho has impressed in the last couple of years at Anfield as last season he contributed to Liverpool's top four finish with 13 goals, creating 65 chances and maintaining a passing accuracy average of 84%.
The Blaugrana have reportedly kept an eye on the Brazilian's form for more than 6 months now and have looked to buy Liverpool's main man despite Coutinho signing a long term contract at Anfield for a reported £150k-a-week back in January 2017.
With reports that PSG is closing in on signing Neymar for a rumoured £196m from various sources, Coutinho seems to be the player that can keep Barcelona's pacey play up to its usual high standards.
However, Liverpool rejected the La Liga giants' £72m bid for their star player.
In a press conference in Hong Kong, Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Coutinho was not for sale, acknowledging Barcelona's offer for the 25-year-old.
"Yes [he is not for sale], that's what we can say. But that's not since this morning or yesterday, I'm not sure if it was different at any time. So, yes."
"I'm not surprised that any club is interested in players, if it is like this. A few people obviously see that Liverpool has a few good players. That's how it is. But a very important message, maybe - we are not a selling club."
"We believe in working together, we believe in development together. We believe in using the basis. We want to work together, we want to make the next step together and for this we need to stay together. That's how it is."
Liverpool is looking to improve next season in both the Premier League and Champions League despite facing a difficult summer transfer window.
