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Liverpool hero Saunders: No room for Coutinho; back Keita!

Liverpool hero Dean Saunders says there's no room for Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho in manager Jurgen Klopp's squad.

Liverpool are among the teams who are reportedly interested in landing the Brazilian, but Saunders doesn't believe the Reds need him.

"Liverpool haven't missed him. They lost one game all season and lost the league by one point when Man City won each of their last 14 games, so they didn't bottle it," Saunders told talkSPORT.

"Positionally have they missed him? No. [Sadio] Mane, [Mohamed] Salah and [Roberto] Firmino are the front three, and [Divock] Origi and [Xherdan] Shaqiri have come in and done their bit.

"If you were critical, they may be lacking a really inventive midfield player. [Georginio] Wijnaldum, [Jordan] Henderson, [James] Milner, Fabinho – they're all workman like.

"But I think we'll see more of Keita this season; he was brought in to carry the ball, go into the last third and make things happen.

"What a good deal it was - they sold Coutinho for £142m and they signed [Virgil] van Dijk, Fabinho, Keita, Shaqiri, Alisson and won the Champions League! Great business, well done Jurgen Klopp. You get lots of criticism in football, but that was a good move."

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Paul Vegas

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