Jurgen Klopp: 'Philippe Coutinho not distracted by rumours'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 05 January 2018

Klopp: 'Coutinho not distracted by rumours'

Jurgen Klopp insists that Philippe Coutinho and his Liverpool teammates will not be distracted by ongoing talk of Barcelona being interested in the Brazilian.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Philippe Coutinho is "smart enough" to ignore speculation linking him with a move to Barcelona.

The Brazil international has been on the Catalan giants' radar for the past year and appears likely to make the switch to Camp Nou within the next six months.

Klopp is hopeful that the ongoing saga will have no impact on Coutinho or his teammates, however, as transfer talk is part and parcel of a footballer's daily life.

"They are professional football players. Sometimes they are in the middle of the story and sometimes they are sat next to the guy in the dressing room who is in the middle of the story," he told reporters.

"These young boys are used to this from a really early age and are used to ignoring things around them. If they are smart enough they ignore most of it.

"All the stories around are no problem. This story is not around since yesterday. It has been around since the summer and did you at any moment get the impression this team is distracted because of transfer rumours? No.

"We are focused on what we have an influence on. All the rest we have to ignore. It is clear there is a lot of excitement around."

Coutinho, currently nursing a minor injury that will keep him out of Friday's meeting with Everton, has reportedly been valued over the £130m mark.