JURGEN KLOPP has issued a hands off warning to Barcelona as Philippe Coutinho plots his comeback from injury.
The Brazilian ace has been sidelined for almost two months with an ankle injury but is set to feature against Southampton in the EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
But the German boss remains wary that his return to action could tempt Barcelona into making a move for their star asset – with a £60million offer on the cards.
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However Klopp insists that no amount of money will tempt the Reds to cash in.
He said: “We never had any plans or any talks about this because he is our player. Nothing has changed.
“Big clubs don’t think in this way unfortunately, and it was not a big injury so there was no question of him not being the same player afterwards.
“It would be nice if big clubs forgot about a player completely because he’s been injured for five or six weeks.
“I’m not sure it’s like this though, but he is our player and that’s it.”
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Coutinho will start on the bench for the clash at Saint Mary's as Klopp keeps a close eye on the huge fixture against Manchester United at the weekend.
The German knows he will not be fully fit for the game against Jose Mourinho's men but admits he "could play".
He added: "There is not enough time for him to be 100 per cent for United but of course he could play.
"We've spoken about there being a difference between fit and match fit but it's Phil, so we want to try everything we can to bring him as close as possible to 100 per cent.
"So at this moment I'd say it makes sense for him to be involved at Southampton, in the squad, and we will see what happens there. If not, we have another three days to prepare him for United."
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