Klopp drops Coutinho for Liverpool’s trip to Manchester City

Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, has revealed that Philippe Coutinho will not play against Manchester City on Saturday.

Coutinho has not played for the Reds this season, as he angled for a move to Barcelona in the summer.

Barca failed with three bids for the Brazil international and he will now stay at Anfield for the rest of this season.

However, Klopp is not prepared to rush the 25-year-old into action just yet.

“I had to make decision; we had a conversation but before he went to Brazil he couldn’t train for three weeks. Now I have decided to leave him out of the squad.

“We have got all the numbers (on Coutinho) from the Brazilian FA – the training, the intensity of the training, stuff like that, and it was all okay. And he played twice – I think about 15 or 20 minutes.

“He could have played 15, 20 minutes again in the City game, maybe lon
ger, but I think really it makes sense (to leave him out).

“He agreed completely, so it was not as if he said ‘no, I don’t need training, I want to play’. It was a good conversation.

“We had a very good talk. He was in a very good mood and training was even better. We have seven games in three weeks. “There will not be time to train,” Klopp said.