Jurgen Klopp denies Liverpool interest in Marc-Andre ter Stegen and puts faith in Simon Mignolet

Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool are not interested in signing Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, instead putting his faith in current custodian Simon Mignolet. The German boss also admitted he has postponed any decision over a potential return of Mario Balotelli to Anfield until the summer.

Last November Catalan-based newspaper Sport revealed that that Klopp was eager to bring the Barcelona goalie to Anfield during the January transfer window due to doubts over the abilities of both Mignolet and Adam Bogdan.

Klopp denied those reports at the time, but speculation has continued amid reports that Ter Stegen is keen to leave the Nou Camp after being regarded as a second-choice option under Luis Enrique. He has been restricted to Champions League and Copa del Rey appearances while Claudio Bravo is the preferred option in the league.

The Mirror reported recently that the Catalan giants may consider parting with the keeper in the current mercato for around £20m ($29.4m), although the Merseysiders are only prepared to fork out £12m.

But asked about these rumours in a press conference ahead of the Capital One Cup clash against Stoke City, Klopp responded in the negative.

"No," he said as quoted by Liverpool Echo. "We have some problems at this moment but thank God not around the goalkeeper position so everything is okay. It's how I said plenty of time on the goalkeeper position and the situation is more than okay, we are satisfied. I know both goalkeepers."

"Simon Mignolet is a really, really, really good goalkeeper. Number two in Belgium – or number one we will see – but maybe number two at the European Championships. It's a big football country in this moment so he's had a good education in all parts of life, especially goalkeeping. I spoke a lot with John Achterberg and things like this so we have solutions in our on squad."

Meanwhile, Italian media reports suggested that Balotelli could be ready to return to Anfield after his agent Mino Raiola said the striker had a future at Liverpool under new manager Jurgen Klopp – having being sent by Brendan Rodgers on loan to AC Milan last summer.

But asked about that, Klopp replied: "Oh my god, at this moment, I don't have time and no capacity to think about things for next summer. Maybe we will have a talk with his agent but it's nothing I can think about in this moment."

"We have to think about the things we can change in this moment and the games we can play in this moment, nothing else."

The boss, nevertheless, refused to close the door on more new additions during the current mercato amid the expected imminent arrival of Marko Grujic.

"You have to wait until the next press conference," Klopp said. "But it's only a few hours away so..."