IT’S £80m COUTINHO
De Boer: Wilf got battering
Klopp said: “What can I do? Write a letter saying ‘By the way, that’s a foul – next time can you whistle?’.
Coutinho set up Mohamed Salah then scored the Asia Trophy winner himself as part of a man-of-the-match display. Manchester City – said: “With Suarez I was far away. When the club sold Sterling I was maybe the last to know about it. So those situations have nothing to do with this one.
“We are approaching a very important moment and we want to get better. For this we have to keep our key players. So that’s the answer.”
Klopp held talks with Coutinho at the Reds team hotel, the Ritz Carlton, last night after the 2-1 win over Leicester in which the Brazilian scored.
Liverpool owners FSG have already decreed they will not negotiate with Barca after their Brazilian superstar signed an improved five- year deal last season.
Klopp added: “I can say 20 times, he is not for sale. If you ask the other question the other way and I say, there has been no assurance [from owners FSG], you make the story the other way. There is no story for me.“ after 33 minutes after a number of fouls on Zaha. The former Manchester United wideman was also involved in clashes with Baggies stars James McClean and Claudio Yacob.
De Boer (below) added: “I saw some signs of wanting to bring the beauty of the game here and the beauty of the game is not those kind of challenges.
“He’s one of the exciting players of the Premier League. I don’t want to think that he’s out for a couple of weeks or months.
“I had a feeling that they were going more for the legs than the ball. You know it’s hard, but still it’s pre-season and every manager wants his players fit to start the league.
“Wilf is a real player. Because of his speed, because of his quality, because of his technical ability, sometimes he will look up and go past two or three players.
“I think I have to give Wilf a good compliment because he stayed calm and spoke with his feet.
“He did very well today and if referees are looking closely sometimes he could have had two fouls in his favour more or maybe three.”
Baggies boss Tony Pulis hit back: “I thought it was a very competitive game, a good game. Allan’s a defender who likes defending and sometimes he’s got there as quick as he could – but he wasn’t quick enough.
“I didn’t think there was any malice in it.”
Midfielder Luka Milivojevic opened the scoring for Palace with a superb free-kick after Zaha had been brought down by Craig Dawson.
Bakary Sako added a second two minutes before the break when his shot from outside the box was deflected off both Dawson and new boy Ahmed Hegazy to wrong-foot keeper Ben Foster.