The Germany international continues to run down his contract and it will not be easy, or cheap, for the Reds to replace a Jurgen Klopp favourite
Among the many compliments to have been paid to Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane this season, the biggest could be the fact that they have managed to make the red half of Merseyside forget all about Philippe Coutinho.
A situation which on January 6 appeared to only benefit Barcelona, as they parted with a cheque for £105 million, could now be argued to have worked in Liverpool’s favour.