LET ME LEAVE!

Coutinho transfer demand stuns Kop

PHILIPPE COUTINHO does not want to play for Liverpool again after he stunned them on the eve of the season with a transfer request.

the Brazil midfielder, who has been the subject of two failed bids from Barcelona sent an email to Liverpool’s sporting director michael Edwards yesterday lunchtime to say he wanted to quit the club. It was immediately rejected.

Earlier, Fenway Sports Group, the club’s american owners, issuing a statement to say they would not sanction the 25-year-old’s sale at any price and considered the matter closed.

Jurgen Klopp relayed a similar message in his press conference, but soon after, Sky Sports reported that Coutinho had made a move to engineer his departure.

the club had dreaded such a development and the timing, ahead of today’s trip to Watford and the Champions League playoff in hoffenheim on tuesday, could hardly be worse.

Coutinho, who is set to miss both of those games with a back injury, feels he has no choice. a close family member was quoted as saying: ‘philippe has tried to find an amicable solution to this situation but to no avail. he has tremendous love for the club and its fans.

‘But as Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez have pointed out in the past, Liverpool does not let its players leave on amicable terms.

‘he does not have the trust of his manager. there are things that have happened, there is not the same bond. It is regrettable, but that is the case. there is no going back.’

Barcelona will be encouraged to return, perhaps even offering a player as well as cash, after bids of £72million and £90m were rebuffed.

In the last eight years, Liverpool have seen a succession of top players lured away — Xabi alonso, Javier mascherano, Fernando torres, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling — and they cannot afford to lose this battle, which was emphasised by the tone of FSG’s statement.

the message from anfield has been consistent throughout and even if they were to receive a huge windfall, they would not be able to recruit a comparable replacement. It was a subject Klopp alluded to before learning that Coutinho had submitted his request.

‘I had to sell a lot of players in my managerial career,’ said the former Borussia Dortmund boss. ‘Some had clauses, some had no clauses. Everything is about timing — whichever club asks early enough.

‘But you cannot come up, close to the start of the season with things like this.

‘the club is bigger than anybody. It’s about doing it in the right moment. It’s how we try do it when we want to bring players in.

‘maybe everybody has a price — in the right moment. In the wrong moment? no price.’