Liverpool boss addresses Naby Keita and Alexis Sanchez transfer links to replace Philippe Coutinho

Jurgen Klopp has made it clear that Liverpool won't do "crazy things" to replace Philippe Coutinho after being asked about the possibility of signing Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez or paying a compensation fee to bring Naby Keita from RB Leipzig ahead of schedule during the current transfer window.

Klopp wanted to keep Coutinho at Anfield until the end of the season but admitted that Merseysiders had no choice but to let him to fulfil his dream of playing for Barcelona when the Catalans agreed to pay a club record £142m to lure the Brazilian to the Nou Camp.

Liverpool now have money to spend and a number of players have been linked with the club in recent days as a result.

Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez and Monaco ace Thomas Lemar have both been touted as potential replacements for Coutinho. Some reports have even claimed that Liverpool could consider battling Manchester City and Manchester United for signing of Sanchez from Arsenal.

Sanchez was linked with Liverpool before moving to Arsenal in 2014 and could be now available on the cheap with his contract at the Emirates Stadium set to expire in the summer.

But questioned whether he could try to bring someone like Sanchez to replace Coutinho, Klopp said: "If we do something then it needs to be right decision, we don't have to replace him – what we have to do is step up.

"We will have 11 players and we've played fantastic football without Phil. I don't want to sound disrespectful because I really liked him; he was five years here and since I came in he was always in the dressing room.

"You miss a person and if you don't miss them then something would have been wrong in the time you were together. I am sure he will miss us – maybe he doesn't realise in the moment when everything is new there – but it's 100% clear,"

"We only have to carry on. As I said, we had fantastic games with him and not-that-good-games with him. We played good without him and not-that-good without. That's the situation and we are already used to it, it's now pretty much a week ago.

"[In terms of] a replacement, first of all if we have to replace him internally, then we will go with open eyes through this transfer window, but we will not make crazy things. Right [player] before expensive."

Keita could also be an alternative to fill the void left by Coutinho amid suggestions that Liverpool are trying to convince Leipzig to part ways with the Guinea international six months ahead of his expected arrival.

Liverpool struck a deal with Leipzig to sign Keita during last summer's transfer window for a reported fee of £48m (€54m) with the midfielder remaining at the German club for the duration of the 2017-18 season.

There have been suggestions that the Merseysiders could pay an additional compensation fee to bring the deal forward to January with Bild recently claiming that Leizpig would privately consider an offer of £13m to sanction Keita's move this move.

But pressed about that possibility during the press conference ahead of the Premier League clash with Manchester City, Klopp said: "My understanding is there is nothing to say about it. When we had this conversation around Coutinho, I said there was nothing to say. I won't start doing that now. He is a player of Leipzig. That's what I know. He will be a Liverpool player in the summer. That is all we know."

Elsewhere, Daniel Sturridge has been tipped to leave Liverpool this month in order to increase his chances of playing at the World Cup for England this summer.

Klopp was coy about the striker's future but the boss did admitted that anything can happen between now and the end of the transfer window.

"I have nothing to say about that. It's how it is. We will see. Until 31 January a lot of things can happen in the transfer window," the Liverpool said boss when asked about Sturridge. "You will probably know before I do. But I have nothing to see. We will see, not only with Daniel, we will see what can happen in the transfer window."