Jurgen Klopp has ruled out a Liverpool return for Philippe Coutinho this summer.
The Brazilian is understood to have been made available for transfer by Barcelona after failing to impress following his £142m move from Anfield in January 2018.
With the Catalan club looking to follow up the signing of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid with a swoop for Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain in, Coutinho’s chances of featuring regularly next term already appear slim.
And the player’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, has suggested that Liverpool would be his preferred destination were a Premier League return to result from the current impasse.
However, Klopp has insisted that such a big-money move would not be possible for the Reds during the current transfer window.
"In general, Phil Coutinho helps each team in the world, still - 100%," Klopp told ESPN.
"It's not about that. I like Phil, I think he's a fantastic footballer and all that stuff, but it would be a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big-money signing and it's not our year for that.
"It's just not possible. As I said, having him would make each team better - us included - but I really hope that he finds his luck at Barcelona.
"Or maybe he found it there. We have contact, but not that close contact that I know exactly how he is doing, but the rest is only newspaper talk and stuff like that.
"If everything was true what newspapers write about me - wow! If it's similar to what they write about me, I would say he's completely happy at Barcelona and wants to sign a new six-year contract or whatever."
