Coutinho’s transfer demand stuns Reds

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. Coutinho’s demand came on a dramatic day for Liverpool, which started with Fenway Sports Group, the club’s American owners, issuing a statement to say they would not sanction the 25-yearold’s sale at any price and considered the matter closed. Jurgen Klopp then relayed a similar message in his press conference and left the Melwood training ground thinking a line had been drawn under the issue. 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 play-off in Hoffenheim on Tuesday, could hardly be worse. Coutinho (right), who is set to miss both of those games with a back injury, had not wanted to take this drastic action, but feels he has no choice. A close family member was quoted as saying: ‘Philippe has tried very hard 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.’ More worryingly for Liverpool, the family member explained that his relationship with Klopp has fractured, saying that he ‘does not have the trust of his manager’. The family member added: ‘There are things that have happened, there is not the same bond. It is regretful, 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. Coutinho has his heart set on the move, and that is well known within Liverpool’s dressing room. But there is also a belief that Liverpool will not cave in to Coutinho. 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.