Brazilian midfielder, Philippe Coutinho has been left out of Liverpool’s squad that will face Manchester City this weekend according to manager, Jurgen Klopp.
25-year-old Coutinho, who missed out of all Liverpool’s Premier League games this season due to a back injury, returned to training with the club after featuring for Brazil in two World Cup qualifier games during last weekend’s international break.
“I decided to leave him out of the squad for City so we can use the time for extra training. He agreed.” Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp explained.
15 – Philippe Coutinho has scored 15 goals from outside the area since his Premier League debut; more than any other player. Ambitious. pic.twitter.com/0vmxvoyE4b
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 21, 2017
“We have to prepare him for the rest of the season and that is quite difficult with our fixtures and schedule. He agreed – he didn’t want to just play 15 minutes.”
Coutinho was denied a move to Barcelona in the summer transfer window following Liverpool’s rejection of three separate bids from the Spanish giants despite Coutinho reportedly handing a transfer request to the club.
“It is like when you are in a relationship and you take a break – you manage to forget what happened in that break and that’s what it is like. I am very happy with the situation”. Klopp added.
