Daniel Sturridge could soon be back in action for Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp was able to confirm the striker completed a full training session with no problems in advance of the Crystal Palace game on Saturday though would not go so far as to suggest him as a likely starter.
“Daniel was part of the complete session and looked really good,” the Liverpool manager said. “But as with all injury recoveries you have to wait to see how the player reacts to the added intensity.”
Philippe Coutinho will not appear against Palace and is continuing to sit out training sessions with a back problem. “Phil is not available, he has not been able to train so far so there is nothing new,” Klopp said.
Barcelona’s general manager, Pep Segura, said after Wednesday’s defeat by Real Madrid in midweek that the club were close to signing Coutinho, though Klopp maintained his stance that nothing has changed. “I watched the game but forgot to watch the interviews afterwards,” he said. “I don’t know why other people are saying what they are saying, especially this guy because I’ve never even met him. I’m not sure how many times I have to keep answering this question because we as a club have said what we want to say.”
Klopp is not naive enough to suppose Liverpool are in complete charge of the situation, however, and admitted there were limits to what he was able to say. “We are not all silly,” he said. “We know it is a very difficult situation with Philippe and at the moment there is nothing new to say.
“I don’t like to lie but it is not always easy for me to say the 100% truth in this matter, but right now there is no news from me because no one has told me any different from the last time we spoke about this.”
Liverpool would probably like the transfer window to have closed already, though Klopp did indicate a player or two might be brought in before the end of the month. “We are looking, like everyone else,” he said. “I can imagine the 31 August will be a busy day, but if the transfer window had ended yesterday I would not be too unhappy. We already have a team which I like and could play football with. We have a few injuries here and there and that is not so cool but it is still a good team.”