Ahead of the weekend’s headliner fixture in the English Premier League, Liverpool versus Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp addressed the transfer rumors that have surrounded two of his key players, Philippe Coutinho and Emre Can.
Coutinho to Barcelona: “will he or won’t he?” was obviously the transfer saga of the summer. The soap opera could return in January, with reports circulating that Barca will be back in for the Brazilian playmaker come winter transfer window.
Klopp remains hopeful that Coutinho will stay at Anfield, while getting his point across that he believes now is not the time to be talking transfer narratives.
“I’ve no clue. We will see,” Klopp said before turning a bit snarky.
“We don’t talk about things like this. Can you imagine what it would be like if I said, ‘Yes, we have an agreement?’
“In this moment, the 100 percent truth is that nobody thinks about this. We don’t talk about it, why should we? In both cases it would not make sense — no, there is no agreement, yes, there is an agreement. It is not important in the moment. We have other moments when we have to talk about these things but not in October.”
“In general, as a club, we have to still create a situation where players want to be part of it with all they have. In this moment, we have this. Nobody thinks about January, nobody thinks of June or July. Everyone wants to be part of this but there will come transfer windows and we will see what happens.”
So that’s the run-down on Coutinho. Elsewhere, in regards to Emre Can, the German’s contract is entering its final year. There have been concerns about if and when he’ll sign a contract extension, amidst reported interest from Juventus.
Klopp spoke on the Can situation: “We, as a club, have to give everything until the players give me a sign that they are somewhere else. So far there is not a shadow of a doubt that he’s not 100 percent here.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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