Liverpool have no need to fill the void left by midfielder Philippe Coutinho, according to manager Jurgen Klopp.
Coutinho’s five-year stay at Liverpool ended in January when the Brazil international finally sealed a £146m dream move to Barcelona.Liverpool reached the Champions League final despite the mid-season departure of the influential attacking midfielder, and have since spent more than £170m, bringing in Naby Keita, Xherdan Shaqiri and Brazil duo Fabinho and Alisson.
The Reds appear unlikely to add to their squad between now and the end of the window but Klopp is thrilled with his summer transfer business, insisting Liverpool do not need a like-for-like replacement for Coutinho.
“You cannot replace Phil Coutinho with exactly the same kind of player,” Klopp said.
“He’s Phil Coutinho. He has a specific style of play, tactically an outstanding player, can play as the winger, the ’10’, the ‘8’ – really great.
“I don’t want to put one of my players in the position where people will now say constantly ‘he’s the Phil replacement’.
“I think the biggest thing we did in the second half of last season was that we didn’t need to speak too much about Phil. That wasn’t clear in January. How could we have known that?
“If we had still had Phil then we could have played with Phil in the final. Mo (Salah) goes out [injured], but Phil still there. Phil on the left wing, bring Sadio (Mane) to the other side, bring a midfielder on – it’s a different story. It would have been nice but he wasn’t here any more. We wish him well.
“We don’t need to replace Phil. We need to make a squad for the next year. Out there on the market, there isn’t a Phil Coutinho light. It’s not there. But there are a lot of good players and we have brought a few of them in.”
Liverpool will not entertain a loan offer for Divock Origi and are only prepared to consider a straight sale for the striker, sources understand.
Origi has fallen down the pecking order at Anfield and has been linked with moves to both Valencia and Watford in the last week.
The 23-year-old spent last season on loan at German side Wolfsburg where he netted seven times in 24 starts, including a vital play-off goal against Holstein Kiel which helped Wolfsburg preserve their Bundesliga status.
He has featured for Liverpool in pre-season but was an unused substitute in Saturday’s thumping 4-1 win against Manchester United.
Origi joined Liverpool four years ago after an impressive showing for Belgium at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, although he missed out on selection for this summer’s tournament in Russia.
He has scored 12 goals in 51 appearances for the Reds but is behind Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge and Dominic Solanke in the Anfield reckoning.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will return to Liverpool training on Tuesday, 17 days after England’s World Cup campaign came to an end.
The defender, whose only appearance in Russia came in England’s final group game against Belgium, has cut his post-World Cup break short to join Liverpool’s pre-season training camp.
Liverpool say the 19-year-old “will report to Melwood on Tuesday morning before joining Jurgen Klopp’s squad in Evian to continue laying foundations up for the upcoming campaign”.
Alexander-Arnold made 33 appearances and scored three goals for Liverpool last season as they finished fourth in the Premier League and reached the Champions League final.
He could feature in Liverpool’s final two pre-season fixtures against Napoli and Torino before their Premier League season opener against West Ham on August 12, live on Sky Sports.
Meanwhile, sources understand Liverpool have accepted a bid worth in the region of £3.5m from Norwegian champions Rosenborg for midfielder Pedro Chirivella.