Liverpool have not entertained any transfer talks for their star attacker Philippe Coutinho, manager Jurgen Klopp says.
Coutinho had been linked to both Barcelona and Real Madrid before an ankle ligament injury caused him to miss seven weeks of action.
The Brazilian could return for Wednesday's EFL Cup semifinal first leg against Southampton, but Klopp doesn't think the player's fitness has had any impact on other clubs targeting him.
"It would be nice if big clubs thought like this and forgot about a player completely because he's been injured for five or six weeks. But big clubs don't think this way unfortunately," Klopp said.
"It was not a big injury so there was no question of him not being the same player afterwards.
"But we never had any ideas or any plans or any talks about this because he is our player and there are no other ideas. And nothing has changed."
Klopp was confident that Coutinho could take part in the midweek cup clash, but he was less positive when asked if the 24-year-old could feature in the Premier League against Manchester United on Sunday.
"The time [between games] is not long enough for him to be 100 percent for Manchester United but he could play," Klopp said. "We have spoken before about there being a difference between being fit and being match-fit but of course it's Phil, so we want to try everything we can to bring him as close as possible to his 100 percent.
"In this moment I would say it makes sense for him to be involved against Southampton, in the squad, and we will see what happens there -- whether we have to use him or not or whatever. If not, we have another three days to prepare him for United.
"A few minutes for him does make sense. We will see if he's ready tomorrow and on Wednesday morning. Then we will make the decision."