Jurgen Klopp silent on Philippe Coutinho's Liverpool future, Danny Ward loan exit being considered

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists he has "nothing to say" over the ongoing Philippe Coutinho transfer saga and has indicated he will be reluctant to allow players to leave the club on loan in January.

As it did in the summer, the subject of Coutinho's future continues to dominate the news agenda on Merseyside with Barcelona finalising an offer worth €150m (£133.4m, $180m) for the Brazil international.

While some reports have suggested the playmaker may have already played his last game for the club with a thigh injury ruling him out of Friday's FA Cup third round clash against Everton, Klopp was not willing to discuss anything other than the player's fitness when addressing the press on Thursday.

"All the things I say now, only create stories, and you create stories anyway," Klopp said. "I have nothing to say, that is how it is. It is a transfer window. That's all.

"I opened the door because I mentioned that it is a transfer window but there is nothing to say that would help me or the player or the club. That is the only thing I am interested in."

With reports suggesting the club have identified Monaco star Thomas Lemar to fill the void that could be left by the Brazilian, Klopp was also quizzed on the subject of replacements.

"Whatever you consider is not my cup of tea. Maybe 80% of the cameras are only here about these answers. That is a waste of time then."

Klopp swiftly turned attention to Friday's derby meeting with Everton, revealing Loris Karius will start in goal ahead of Simon Mignolet and Danny Ward, with the latter to be named on the bench. Ward, retained by the club this season after excelling while on loan at Huddersfield Town last term, started in Liverpool's sole appearance in the Carabao Cup earlier in the campaign and appears set to remain the club's third choice.

Klopp commented Liverpool have already turned down a number of requests for their players on temporary loan deals with 24-year-old Ward likely to be the subject of some of those. And while the German coach did not rule out a temporary switch for the Wales international, he suggested his preference is to keep him and the club's other squad players on Merseyside to ensure he is not caught short later on in the season.

"The plan for Wardy is a plan I will speak to him about," Klopp said. "He is a young, very skilled goalkeeper, lots of potential but needs space for improvement. We are quite desperate to work on that together with him, we would like to do that. But we have to see.

"With all the requests so far from other clubs for loans and stuff like that, it is almost like the January window means everyone is doing like the season is already finished and clubs will try to get all the players."

He continued: "But it is a long season, there is enough to do for all of the boys, so no rush in that, we can't help other clubs until we think about ourselves."