Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp explains why Philippe Coutinho had to leave for Barcelona in January

Jürgen Klopp has claimed that Liverpool had “no other option” but to sell Philippe Coutinho this month as there was “100 per cent no chance” of him playing for the club in the second half of the season.

Coutinho completed his long-awaited £142m transfer to Barcelona this week despite Liverpool’s efforts to keep him at Anfield until at least the end of the season.

The Merseyside club held firm when Barcelona first made formal bids for the playmaker during the summer, even when Coutinho handed in a transfer request on the eve of the Premier League season.

However, speaking ahead of Sunday’s meeting with league leaders Manchester City, Klopp admitted that the club could do no more to resist Barcelona’s advances once the January window opened.

“I knew it would come up again in this transfer window and it could have been very difficult if we had done what we could have done – ‘there’s your contract and you have to stay here’ – and to use him as a player in the second half of the season,” the Liverpool manager said.

“That was a decision I have to make: does it make sense, do I think I can still use him, can he help us still? And to be honest, it was 100 per cent clear no chance.

Klopp added: “He was not ready to do that anymore. He did fantastic in the first part of the season after the things we had to deal with in the summer.

“He did fantastic and the team did fantastic. That’s over now, we cannot do that anymore, so we made that decision.”