'I lost' - Jurgen Klopp admits he was gutted Liverpool sold £8.5m star he planned to keep for the next decade

Jurgen Klopp has revealed Liverpool once sold a player he wanted to work with for a decade.

Klopp stepped down in the summer of 2024 after a glittering nine-year dynasty at Anfield, having won the Champions League in 2019 and a first Premier League title in 30 years.

During that time, he brought in an array of eye-catching signings, including future legends Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, and also sold talent worth hundreds of millions.

However, Klopp was gutted after the club offloaded a future superstar for a truly staggering sum.

Jurgen Klopp wanted to keep Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool

Liverpool bought Philippe Coutinho from Inter Milan for just £8.5million in January 2013, and the playmaker went on to make over 200 appearances.

Coutinho became an undisputed club great, but was eventually sold to Barcelona five years later in a £142m deal, despite the Reds rejecting three bids from the Catalan side and a transfer request.

Klopp, of course, went on to use the windfall wisely, but he has now opened up on the saga, insisting he had instead wanted to keep him.

Speaking on The Diary Of A CEO podcast, he said: “On the day we sold, lost Phil Coutinho, that was not a day that I thought, ‘Oh, good, we have the money’.

“I lost the player I wanted to work with for the next 10 years, if you want. Yeah, we invested it smartly, that’s true.”

According to The Mirror, Klopp had told Coutinho to stay and become a club legend, even telling him a statue would be built in his honour. He also warned him he would be “just another player” at Barcelona.

How Jurgen Klopp reacted to Philippe Coutinho sale

But the call of Catalonia proved too strong for the forward to resist, and Coutinho made the move after reportedly putting in £11.5m of his own money to facilitate the deal.

Jurgen Klopp had expressed his disappointment with the situation at the time of the departure, saying: “It is no secret that Philippe has wanted this move to happen since July, when Barcelona first made their interest known.

“Philippe was insistent with me, the owners and even his team-mates that this was a move he was desperate to make happen.”

Klopp then added: “The club did everything within our means to convince Philippe that remaining part of Liverpool was as attractive as moving to Spain.

“It is with great reluctance that we – as a team and club – prepare to say farewell to a good friend, a wonderful person and a fantastic player in Coutinho.

“The relationship we have for him means with a heavy heart we wish him well.”